Sudan discontinues 130 South Sudanese police trainees JUBA, 17 April 2012 - Khartoum has dismissed a total of one hundred and thirty South Sudan police cadres who have been undertaking cadet training courses in North Sudan. They have now been given ten days to leave Sudan.
South Sudan’s minister of Interior, Hon. Alison Manani Magaya told press in Juba yesterday that he had received information from the head of South Sudan’s embassy in Khartoum that all the cadets were dismissed. Hon. Magaya said no sound justification was given. He further said the cadets who were not given their transcripts, got their details taken and expressed worry over their safety. He said there were three batches of cadets, batches 63, 64 and batch 65. “Our message as a government to the authorities in Khartoum is that they are entirely responsible for the safety of these cadets until they are received by the government of the Republic of Sudan”, he said. He said the government is making all efforts possible to bring them back home. “We would like to inform the general public and the international community, as it has been the position of our President Salva Kiir Mayardit, that the government will always ensure that any foreigner in the Republic of South Sudan including the Sudanese nationals who are already foreigners as of 19th of April 2012 will be accorded full protection to lives and to property”, he explained. Hon. Magaya expressed shock to these new steps taken by the government in Khartoum especially after they had earlier on accepted willingly a request from the President of the Republic Salva Mayardit Kiir to allow the cadets to continue with their studies there. This is the second instance in less than a week that the government of Khartoum is allegedly taking such steps. Yesterday Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin, the minister for Information and Broadcasting who is also the government spokesman, accused security operatives in Khartoum of invading the house of the Vice President of South Sudan H.E Dr. Riek Machar taking with them a 15 year old boy whom he said had undergone an open heart surgery. Reported by Matata Safi Seven people abducted as Dr Machar’s house in Khartoum invaded JUBA, 16 April 2012 - The Sudan national security operatives invaded the house of the Vice President of the Republic of South Sudan Dr. Riek Machar Tenny in Khartoum, adducted seven people and took away all the house furniture. This was reported to the press by Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin, the government of South Sudan spokesman in Juba yesterday. He explained that the Sudan national intelligence officers invaded Dr Machar’s house on Saturday evening at 4pm Sudan local time and took away all the seven occupants. He identified some of the people taken as Hassan Mustafa, Abudallah Aziz all the VP bodyguards, Koul a 15years old boy and two young girls. “We do not know where these people are and how safe they may be. We condemn this in the strongest terms possible”, he said. Dr. Marial said the fifteen year old boy who is underage was also taken too by the Khartoum security agencies. Dr. Marial stated that the boy has a medical condition in which he had an open heart surgery. He reported that one of the girls who had gone to Khartoum to collect her school certificate has been reportedly abused by the security agencies. “It is surprising that the national security that is supposed to protect goes out to vandalise and occupy the house of the Vice President”, posed Dr. Marial. He called on the authorities in Khartoum to maintain laws of international relations. Dr. Marial further noted that the Sudan national security has surrounded the building guarding it with two armed vehicles. Dr. Marial urged all Southern Sudanese not to retaliate to any Sudanese nationals in the Republic of South Sudan. “We urged all our citizens that nobody should lay hands on any Sudanese nationals who are in the Republic of South Sudan, these people are our brothers and sisters”, stressed Dr. Marial. He said the President of Republic Salva Kiir has in many occasions repeated that South Sudan will always protect lives and property of any Sudanese national in the country. Reported by Matata Safi 14 Prisoners of War flown to Juba by SPLA JUBA, 16 April 2012 - South Sudan’s army, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) yesterday flew 14 prisoners of war captured from the ongoing fighting in Heglig (Panthou) the highly contested area by the two states of South Sudan and Sudan. Shortly after the POWs were paraded to the press, Col. Phillip Aguer, the SPLA spokesman said the prisoners of war were captured on the 10th of April when fighting intensified in Panthau and areas between Tecwin. Col. Aguer said the SPLA was built to liberate human suffering as such it believes in the international humanitarian laws governing war prisoners. “This is an example of how responsible we are in protecting prisoners of war. Over the 21 years of civil war, we handed over 300 prisoners of war to Kharoum, but Khartoum has not preserved a single live of South Sudanese prisoners of war because their principle is the more you kill ‘infidels’, the more your chances are to paradise”, Col. Aguer said. Among the POWs is a First Lieutenant Dr. Khalid Hassan Ahmed who is a medical doctor captured at the SAF medical bay treating the wounded soldiers, a South Sudanese Moron Malek Ayol who said he was member of a militia group led by Thiel Malwal Makue and the rest are Sudanese of African origin. Col. Aguer said the POWs will be handed over to the International Red Cross to be reunited with their families. He called on Khartoum to do the same to their prisoners of war. He said the SPLA is fighting a just war. “The fact that we did not start the fight, SAF is fighting deep inside South Sudan territory justifies that we are fighting a just war”, he said. Col. Aguer estimated that Panthou which Sudan claims to be in its territory is over seventy kilometres inside the Republic of South Sudan according the 1956 border mappings. He said the SPLA was still in control of Panthou. He said SAF started indiscriminately bombing villages around Panthou. Col. Aguer dismissed Khartoum reports that they are in Panthou. He said Khartoum is using Antinov and MG fighting to carry out aerial bombardment. He noted that SAF was trying to open another front in Upper Nile where they attached Kuek and a police station. He recalled that at the time of the attack the SPLA was at a distance and later came in and repulsed the attackers. He reported that so far SAF has lost 240 troops since the fighting erupted on the 1st of April but he could not give numbers of the wounded as he said most are taken away by their fellow fighters. He said the SPLA has lost nineteen of its forces while thirty two have been wounded. Meanwhile, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin the minister for Information and Broadcasting who is also the government spokesman said the government condemns the continuous and indiscriminate aerial bombardments on civilians by Khartoum. He said the Sudanese army were now targeting the oil infrastructure in Panthou. “Since this morning SAF has been bombing the oil tanks in Panthou. This must be condemned”, he said. He said the SPLA has been in Panthou and they made sure the infrastructure was protected until a peaceful resolution on the status of Panthou is reached. He urged the Security Council and the African Union to call on Sudan to stop the act of destroying the infrastructure in the contested area. 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