Home page | News Wednesday 23 March 2011
Sudanese president issues veiled threat to SPLM
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March 22, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan
Al-Bashir dismissed allegations made by the Sudan people Liberation
Movement (SPLM) that he and his National Congress Party (NCP) are
aiding the renegade militias in the South to destabilize the
semi-autonomous government there.
JPEG - 29.5 kb
Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir (AFP)
South Sudan will join the league of nations officially next July after
its citizens voted almost unanimously to become an independent state
in a referendum held last January in line with the requirement of the
2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between the North and
South to end more than two decades of civil war.
But violence has erupted in different parts of the South since the
vote results were announced and endorsed by the ex-foes stoking fears
that the new state will not be sustainable and a source of regional
instability.
Last week, the SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum produced documents
attributed to the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) detailing orders to arm
rebels in the South.
Amum said that the plan for aiding Southern militias was under the
direct supervision of president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.
But the Sudanese leader on Tuesday denied the allegations saying that
the NCP signed the CPA when it had the upper hand on the battlefield
and is committed to implementing its terms for the sake pf peace.
Speaking at the military academy in Omdurman, Bashir said that the
government in the North will not start any war and subtly warned the
SPLM against seeking a military confrontation.
"Whoever initiates war, will be the first to suffer," Bashir was
quoted as saying adding that war will use up all the resources that
should be devoted to development.
The Sudanese president described the South’s claims as "lies" and
urged the SPLM to stop repeating them. He accused unnamed officials in
the SPLM of having external agendas.
The SPLM has announced last week that it will suspend the
post-referendum talks with the NCP but reversed its decision later
following mediation by former South African president Thabo Mbeki.
But one of the contentious issues is the fate of the border region of
Abyei which has witnessed one of the fiercest clashes recently that
led to mass displacement.
The oil-rich area was supposed to hold its own referendum last January
on whether it wants to join the North or South. However, disagreements
between the SPLM and NCP on eligibility for voting stalled the
process.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) discussed the situation in
Abyei on Monday after hearing from NCP and SPLM representatives.
Amum said he complained to the UNSC that the northern government in
Khartoum is funding militias to destabilize Southern Sudan before it
secedes. He disclosed that he asked council members to consider
deploying a new peacekeeping force at the border between the two
sides.
This request was previously made by SPLM chairman Salva Kiir but was
met with lack of enthusiasm given the long borders and the rejection
by the NCP.
The Sudanese ambassador to the UN Dafalla Al-Haj Osman refuted the
SPLM’s position saying that the south always blames the north for its
problems.
"Whenever there are problems in the south, they blame the north for
that,’ he said, insisting that the south’s own opposing groups are
responsible for the recent violence." the envoy said.
(ST)
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