Egypt provides South Sudan with arms and ammunition: al-Bashir

February 22, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir has ruled out the direct involvement of the Egyptian arm in South Sudan’s conflict but said Cairo provided President Salva Kiir with weapons and ammunition.

Speaking to reporters aboard the plane returning to Khartoum from Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, al-Bashir denied that Egypt had conducted any air attacks on the positions of the SPLM-In-Opposition in Kaka town of Upper Nile state, as it was claimed by the rebels on 3 February.

However “We have intelligence that they supported the South Sudanese government, and continue to support the government with arms and ammunition,” he disclosed in his answer to a question from a journalist.

“But I do not expect to fight in the South Sudan,” he further said.

Last January President Salva Kiir visited Cairo where he held talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Egyptian officials.

At the time, officials in Juba said the purpose of the visit was to thank Egypt for its diplomatic support to Juba government at the level of the United Nations Security Council.

Sudan as the rest of the IGAD countries including Uganda vowed to not support the warring parties in South Sudan’s festering conflict. They also agreed to keep the former Frist Vice-President Riek Machar out of the region.

Also, Washington called to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan, pointing to UN reports about “strong risk of violence escalating along ethnic lines with a potential for genocide”.

(ST)