South Sudan will ‘not fold its arms’ if Khartoum launches attack
Article
Comments (14)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
facebook
myspace
twitter
buzzyahoo
June 12, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan said on Wednesday that it will not
fold its arms if the government of neigbouring Sudan, with whom it is
engaged in an oil dispute, launches cross-border attacks.
JPEG - 28.5 kb
South Sudanese soldiers withdraw from the garrison town of Jau, at the
disputed border with Sudan March 17, 2013 (REUTERS/Hereward Holland)
“We are not after anything else apart from peaceful relations. We are
for peaceful dialogue as a means for resolving dispute and peaceful
co-existence between Sudan and South Sudan”, South Sudan’s minister of
information and broadcasting service, Barnaba Marial Benjamin said on
Wednesday.
Minister Marial, however, quoted president Salva Kiir’s warning during
his state address that his country would not fold its arms if Sudan
continues to engage in aggressive behaviour and carry out an invading
attacks on its territory.
“We have a constitutional obligation as a democratically elected
government to protect the territory of this country and its citizens
with their properties from any foreign aggression. We will not attack
but will not accept being attacked and expected to fold our arms when
our people and their properties are attacked. We will do anything
within our capacity to safeguard their safety”, he said.
Marial made the remarks at a briefing during which he stated position
of the government that it was not in any way interested in returning
the country to “senseless war” but that it was time to consolidate
peace and build the new nation he said was created as a result of
devastating civil wars with Sudan.
“The president clearly stated that he will not return the citizens of
this country to senseless war. It is we are afraid to fight. We know
our people can fight but this is the position of our government. The
position of the government is what I have said already that we are
peaceful coexistence with Sudan. We know what war has done to the
people of Sudan and South Sudan. The citizens in both Sudan and South
Sudan need peace. If you ask any citizen in Sudan, he or she will
definitely tell you that they are not interested in war. So why would
you go against the interest of the majority”, he asked.
Marial, who speaks for the government as its official spokesperson,
wondered why Sudan’s president was mobilising young people for a Jihad
- holy war - as he had claimed in a recent speech.
Earlier this week president Bashir order the stoppage of southern oil
passing through Sudan to the international markets, accusing South
Sudan backing rebels north of the border.
Juba has rejected backing the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF)
coalition and accused Khartoum of supporting rebellions and militia in
the young nation, which split from Sudan in 2011.
"He is calling Jihad to fight who?" Marial asked. "If it is the rebels
in Sudan, then he should know they are also Muslims. If it is for
South Sudan then he should know that we are not against anybody and
therefore do not want to fight senseless war".
South Sudan was committed to the implementation of the cooperation
agreement and the implementation matrix agreed by the two nations to
resolve the difference, Marial said. He described president Bashir’s
remarks in which he described South Sudanese a fools as “irresponsible
and racial statement”.
President Bashir on Saturday 8 accused South Sudan of providing
support to the SRF, who are trying to overthrow his 25-year rule.
"We gave them their country with all the resources and instead of
focusing on building it, they decided to follow and support fools like
them. We will now close the pipeline and after that it is up to them
to take it to Kenya or through Djibouti or wherever”, Bashir said at a
rally held north of Sudanese capital Khartoum which was broadcast by
the national television.
Marial said that Bashir’s comments were "irresponsible", especially
coming from a head of state. He repeated South Sudan’s denial "that we
do not provide any support to the Sudanese rebels".
Earlier this year, in a brief period when relations improved between
Juba and Khartoum, Bashir denied that he had described the leaders of
South Sudan’s ruling SPLM as "insects" that must be crushed.
Marial said that Sudan wants his country to reject hosting the
refugees that have fled from South Kordofan and Blue Nile where the
SRF rebels are fighting government.
“Sudan is manufacturing all these lies because we are not accepting
them. They want us to chase away the refugees we are hosting in Upper
Nile and Unity States. It is these refugees who flood our markets and
other public places along the borders which [Khartoum] consider as
rebels”, he explained.
(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].
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14ooM-y6fCPHi0Z%2By249Xdjkc37wrP04okp0MUfz8gz-Tww%40mail.gmail.com?hl=en-US.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
