South accuses Sudan of failing to withdraw troops from border
March 22, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan on Friday accused the government of neighbouring Sudan of failing to pull its troops back from their contested border in line with an agreement to create a buffer zone to defuse tensions between the two nations. South Sudan’s defence minister John Kong Nyuon (Reuters) The Safe Demilitarised Border Zone (SDBZ) was initially agreed in September 2012 but implementation stalled until a new deal and was signed in Addis Ababa on 12 March, which provides a clear timeline and framework. As part of the deal South Sudan is also scheduled to resume exporting its oil through Sudan for the first time in over a year. South Sudan’s defence minister, John Kong Nyuon, said his country had completed its withdrawal from all border areas in order to allow for the the buffer zone to be created. Nyuon was speaking to journalists shortly after briefing President Salva Kiir Mayardit about the outcomes and recommendations made in the recent Joint Political Security Mechanism (JPSM) meeting, which he attended in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The minister said that the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), which has been given the responsibility of monitoring the buffer zone as well as Abyei, has airlifted South Sudanese monitors to the capital of South Kordofan, Kadugli, which has been designated as the interim headquarters of the joint monitoring operation. "The SPLA forces have so far completed withdrawal from the areas. We have withdrawn our forces from Northern Upper Nile. We have withdrawn our forces from Jau and all the areas including 14 Mile area which was given special security arrangement in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. The same thing in Western Bahr el Ghazal State but the Sudan Armed Forces until on March 19 when we were in the meeting did not move. They did not start withdrawing", Nyuon told journalists on Friday. The senior official was accompanied by Chief of General Staff of Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), James Hoth Mai and the newly appointed Chief of Military Intelligence (MI), Major General Mac Paul, both of whom did not make any statement to the media. "I am told that Sudan Armed Forces have started preparations to withdrawn from Teshkuin in Unity State", he said, but added that still had not withdrawn from the area. In Khartoum, General Emad Al-Deen Addawi who co-chair the technical JPSM team confirmed to the Sudanese radio the full withdrawal of Mile 14 adding it show the seriousness of the South Sudanese side in the implementation of 8 and 12 March agreements. The two sides had a week to pull their ttoops out of the disputed border areas but for Mile 14, the South Sudanese army had two weeks to withdraw from it. The spokesperson of South Sudan’s army, Colonel Philip Aguer, told Sudan Tribune that it was the responsibility of UNISFA to verify whether the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) have withdrawn. "On our side, we have completed the withdrawal within the time frame. It was done in a transparent way. The media were all invited (and) they can prove full withdrawal on our side. The failure by the Sudan is the responsibility of the United Nations Interim Force for Abyei which has a mandate to verify and ask for failure", said Colonel Aguer on Friday. The senior military officer down played reports and complaints from local authorities, expressing fears that civil population along the border areas would be vulnerable to attacks by the militia groups north of the border who are allied to the Sudanese army. “The civil populations along the border areas are not vulnerable. The SPLA force will always be there at moment they feel that their lives are in danger. They will in the very second of feeling the danger. It is the mandate of the SPLA to protect civilians and their properties from foreign aggression", Aguer stressed . (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
