Juba Denies Being At War With Khartoum
The South Sudanese government in Juba has denied being at war with Khartoum. This was stated in a press conference held yesterday by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin who is also the official spokesperson of the government. 20 April 2012 Dr. Barnaba Benjamin Marial (left) speaking to the press in Juba [©Gurtong] By Lopu Moses JUBA, 20th April 2012 [Gurtong] “The Republic of South Sudan is not in the state of war nor is it interested in war with Sudan”, Dr. Barnaba said. He said that the resolution of the Sudan National Assembly declaring the Republic of South Sudan an enemy is unfortunate and amounts to a declaration of war against South Sudan. He reiterated his government’s commitment to peaceful relations between the two viable states living together side by side in peace and mutual security, respect for each other’s sovereignty and cooperation in pursuit of mutual interest of the two countries. The Sudanese President, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir was yesterday quoted by the BBC as saying the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) will either pursue SPLA to Juba or else the SPLA pursues SAF to Khartoum. The Minister said that the presence of SPLA in Panthou (Heglig) is to put to an end repeated attacks by Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) into the positions of SPLA in South Sudan. He added that the presence of the SAF in Heglig was of great security threat. Dr. Barnaba explained that Panthou (Heglig) was a territory of Upper Nile until former president Japhar Nimeiry moved the provincial borders to create the Unity State after the discovery of Oil in the early of 1980’s. He added that Nafie Al Nafie then transferred it to the North in 2004 from Unity State. The South Sudanese government has expressed readiness to pull its troops from Panthou (Heglig) but said that the African Union (AU) and the United Nations should put in place mechanisms that will ensure that Panthou (Heglig) will not be used by any party for military purposes. He further called for the presence of the International monitors and the United Nations before their withdrawal arguing that they are preventing what happened in Abyei from happening in Heglig where the SAF refused to withdraw after the SPLA withdrew. Juba has however urged that the following be done: 1- Immediate cessation of hostilities along the borders 2- Immediate demarcation of the agreed upon borders areas 3- Government of both South Sudan and Sudan to acknowledge and support the call by the UN Security Council on both parties to withdraw their forces from Abeyi region as per the agreement reached last year, which also states that Ethiopian peace keeping forces are to fill the security vacuum. 4- Referral of the disputes pertaining to the status of the contested areas to the international Arbitration. 5- The Government of South Sudan is ready for immediate resumption of negotiations on all outstanding issues. The Information Minister also said that the President of South Sudan still wants to meet Al-Bashir despite what he said and declaring South Sudan as an enemy. Posted in: Home -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
