Clashes erupt in South Kordofan between SAF and SPLA
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June 5, 2011 (KHARTOUM/JUBA) - Fighting broke out on Sunday in the key
northern border state of South Kordofan, just weeks before oil-rich
South Sudan is due to separate from the north.
JPEG - 38.9 kb
SPLM military soldiers guard the car of SPLM governor candidate Abdul
Aziz Al-Hilu as he arrives to vote at a polling centre in Kadogli in
South Kordofan state, May 2, 2011 (Reuters)
Multiple sources told Sudan Tribune that Northern tanks and heavy
artillery were stationed in and around the state’s main town of
Kadugli while clashes have been reported in surrounding villages.
Last week the northern Sudanese army issued an ultimatum to soldiers
from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to move out of the
states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, which borders South Sudan.
There were also reports of clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces
(SAF) of the Khartoum government and the SPLA in Umm Dorain about 12km
south east of Kadugli.
A member of the SPLM, the main opposition party in the state, told
Sudan Tribune that Umm Dorain had been attacked by the SAF as they
believed SPLA forces were in the area.
The reports of fighting in Umm Dorain were also confirmed by the UN
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).
"There were two attacks. One happened in Kadugli town itself, where a
police station was attacked last night (Saturday) by unknown gunmen,"
UNMIS spokeswoman Hua Jiang told Agence France Presse (AFP), adding
that there was no information on casualties.
"We have also had reports of shooting in Um Dorain today. We have sent
land and air patrols to the area to investigate," she said.
But a statement from Sudan’s news agency SUNA, quoted the northern
army as saying the "the incident" was a case of an individual soldier
firing at random.
The statement went on to say that Kadugli was calm, the situation was
"contained" and that relations between the SAF and NCP with the "the
other party" were stable.
According to reports received by Sudan Tribune the SAF moved tanks
south from El Obeid and stationed them at Kadugli airport and near the
compound of the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) early on Sunday. They
also established checkpoints on the main road heading north from
Kadugli airport.
Fighting was reported to have begun on Sunday morning, which is
eyewitnesses and other sources say is now full of military personnel,
hardware and vehicles.
The UNMIS spokesperson told Reuters that late on Saturday unknown
armed groups attacked and stole weapons from a police station in
Kadugli.
A member of the SPLM - the political wing of the SPLA and governing
party of South Sudan - Nassir Kuku, told Sudan Tribune that the SAF
had entered Kadugli at 9 am on Sunday. He said that there had been
"serious fighting" in the villages Alburam and Miri, although this has
not been confirmed.
“There has been serious tension here in Kadugli before and [after the]
elections[results] were announced. The National Congress [Party] (NCP)
rigged elections and again wanted to initiate the fighting," he said.
In early May the NCP, which governs North Sudan, beat the SPLM in
controversial state elections to decide the state governor and the
makeup of South Kordofan’s legislative assembly. Incumbent NCP
governor, Ahmed Haroun was reinstated in office after defeating his
deputy, the SPLM candiate Abdul Aziz Adam El-Hilu. International
monitors endorsed the result.
Haroun was quoted by state media as saying that some of the joint
police units attacked the wildlife police in Kadugli while the
garrison in Um Dorain came under assault from SPLA troops.
Sudan Tribune failed to reach El-Hilu on Sunday but senior SPLM figure
Musa Kaka, said that SAF had been entering Kadugli for some time but
only started their operation on Sunday.
“They started their operation today on Sunday at 9:00am. They moved
tanks and other machine guns. More than 12 tanks appeared in the town
today”, he said. Eyewitness including sources from the United Nations
confirmed the entry of the SAF to Kadugli and the subsequent eruption
of fighting.
The SPLM has strong support in the northern border state’s of South
Kordofan and Blue Nile as many people from the areas joined the SPLA/M
in fighting Khartoum during Sudan’s second North-South’ civil war.
However with South Sudan due to secede in July after a referendum
earlier this year both states will remain north of the border and
governed by the NCP in Khartoum.
As part of the 2005 peace deal that ended the conflict, and granted
South Sudan the right to self determination, the two states were
accorded ’popular consultations’ to consider whether the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement addressed their grievances and propose what their
future relationship with Khartoum might look like.
The much delayed processes are yet to be completed despite there being
only a little over a month until the official end of the peace deal
and South Sudan’s independence.
Saturday’s fighting is thought to have been triggered by the north’s
demand that all SPLA soldiers move south of the 1956 border - created
by the British at Sudan’s independence - or surrender their weapons.
In accordance with the security arrangements in the 2005 peace deal,
Joint Integrated Units (JIUs) of 24,000 soldiers, 12,000 each from SAF
and SPLA were deployed in various towns in South Sudan, Khartoum, Blue
Nile and South Kordofan. The forces were to serve as the nucleus for a
future national army should the people of South Sudan vote for the
unity of the country in a plebiscite agreed as part of the peace deal.
However, the south voted resoundingly to separate and the SPLA, which
became the official army of South Sudan after the 2005 agreement, will
in July become the army of an independent nation.
The SPLA is adamant that soldiers from the Nuba Mountains in South
Kordofan and Blue Nile cannot relocate to the south as they are not
southern Sudanese. On May 31 the SPLA’s spokesperson Philip Aguer
indicated to Sudan Tribune that the SPLA in South Sudan was no longer
responsible for SPLA soldiers north of border.
He said: “North [Sudan] is supposed to discuss what to do with the
forces in Blue Nile and South Kordofan. It is [a] northern conflict
and we are not part of it,” Aguer added.
UN Mission in Sudan
The United Nations Mission in Sudan shut the doors to its compound on
Sunday morning Sudan Tribune has learnt as SAF military police with up
to 10 vehicles with heavy weaponry positioned themselves outside.
UNMIS’s response to the breakout of fighting in Kadugli is likely to
be heavily scrutinized after the criticism its peacekeepers received
for their inaction when SAF overran the contested region of Abyei last
month.
The UN mission was also accused by Khartoum’s representative at the UN
of not doing "anything" when an SAF convoy they were escorting was
attacked by a southern armed group in a precipitous clash, Reuters has
reported.
A leading UN military official is being dispatched to Abyei to
investigate the claim that Zambian peacekeepers stayed in their
barracks for two days while town was being burnt and looted.
ABYEI
The SAF’s entry into Kadugli comes less than three weeks after it
moved into the disputed territory of Abyei. The strategically
important region was occupied by the northern military on May 21.
Abyei, along with South Kordofan and Blue Nile was one of the "three
areas" given special status in the 2005 peace deal, but instead of
’consultations’ was granted a referendum on whether it would remain in
South Kordofan or join South Sudan.
The future of Abyei also remains uncertain and a source of potential
renewed north-south conflict as its plebiscite did not go ahead
leaving the area in limbo and at the center of the high stakes
military and diplomatic calculations as the SPLM and NCP try to agree
on post-independence issues such as oil and debt as well as implement
remaining issues from the peace deal such as border demarcation.
With the south’s secession Sudan will lose 75 percent of the country’s
known oil reserves.
(ST)
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