Sudan & South Sudan trade accusations of defying UNSC resolution
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May 3, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – One day after the UN Security Council (UNSC)
ordered them to cease hostilities within 48 hours, Sudan and South
Sudan are already accusing each other of committing fresh military
assaults.
JPEG - 37.2 kb
FILE PHOTO - Sudanese army troops (GETTY)
South Sudan’s army spokesperson, Philip Aguer, said on Thursday that
Sudanese warplanes dropped six bombs on their base in Panakuach, Unity
State.
Aguer also said that another attack involving aerial bombardment and
long-range artillery targeted an army base about 25 km away from
Panakuach.
The accusation followed the adoption on Wednesday of a UNSC resolution
directing both countries to cease all forms of hostilities, including
aerial bombardment, within 48 hours.
Furthermore, the UNSC resolution ordered the two sides to withdraw
troops from disputed border regions, including Abyei, within a week in
order to prepare for the establishment of a demilitarized border zone.
The UNSC resolution also threatened both countries with non-military
sanctions if they don’t conclude negotiations over borders, oil
exports and citizenship rights within three months.
Across the border in Khartoum, the spokesman of Sudan’s foreign
ministry, Al-Obayd Adam Marawih, issued a statement declaring his
country’s commitment to the UNSC resolution with regards to cessation
of hostilities.
However, Marawih said that South Sudan had already defied the order
and attacked on Thursday the areas Um Dafoug in South Darfur State,
Samaha in the newly created state of East Darfur and Talodi in South
Kordofan State.
The spokesman is likely to be referring to attacks by the army of the
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), a Sudanese rebel
group fighting to topple the government in Khartoum from South
Kordofan and Blue Nile States.
Khartoum says that SPLM-N rebels are still part of South Sudan’s army
alongside of which they fought during the north-south civil war in the
once-united Sudan.
The Sudanese diplomat also said that South Sudan had already occupied
disputed border areas, including Kafia Kingi and Kafia Dabi.
Marwaih warned that Sudan would be entitled to self-defense if South
Sudan does not commit to cessation of hostilities and withdrawal of
troops.
He reaffirmed Sudan’s commitment to the Abyei Protocol of the 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) as well as to implementing the
withdrawal of its troops from the region as per the agreement for
temporary administrative and security arrangements for Abyei signed in
Addis Ababa in June 2011.
Sudan occupied Abyei in May last year and is yet to withdraw troops
despite agreeing to do so under the Addis Ababa deal.
Regarding the UNSC resolution, Marawih expressed Khartoum’s positive
view of some of its elements, including condemnation of South Sudan’s
brief occupation last month of Heglig region as well as calls for
assessing the damages allegedly inflicted by the southern army on oil
infrastructure there.
However, he maintained that Khartoum will undertake further review of
the resolution.
Khartoum is unhappy with the African Union’s decision to involve the
UNSC in the roadmap it drew last week to force the two countries to
cease hostilities and return to negotiations. Marawih said in an
interview on Wednesday that Khartoum has reservations over the three
months ultimatum for concluding talks with South Sudan.
On the other hand, South Sudan said it has agreed to the UNSC
resolution. The country’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs Deng Alor Kuol
affirmed on Thursday that South Sudan would comply with the
resolution.
(ST)
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