Khartoum "trained and armed" South Sudan rebels, Juba claims
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June 23, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan on Sunday again claimed it is has
evidence proving that neighbouring Sudan was providing support to
rebel groups fighting the Juba government.
JPEG - 11.4 kb
South Sudan’s defence minister, John Kong Nyuon (Reuters)
Khartoum, according to South Sudan’s defence minister John Kong Nyuon,
is using mercenaries to destabilise the new country, which separated
from Sudan in July 2011.
The official made these remarks at a meeting with Norwegian defence
minister Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, during which he accused Sudan of
failing to implement the bilateral Cooperation Agreement signed in
September last year.
Nyuon said that Khartoum is looking for a way to blackmailing the
international community from pressing for the implementation of the
agreement.
"Khartoum’s claims that we provide support to the rebels fighting them
are not true", Nyuon said.
"It is actually the government of Sudan which provides all kind of
supports to militia groups they want to destabilize this country.
These are not just allegations. We are holding evidence", he added.
Three well armed militia groups, the defense minister revealed, have
crossed from Sudan into South Sudan’s Unity and Upper Nile states with
heavy weapons.
He said the groups that accepted the amnesty offered by president
Salva Kiir, "admitted they were trained and armed by the government of
Sudan".
"Some are here with us. You ask them", Nyuon told Norwegian defence
minister during a meeting at the army headquarters in Juba on Sunday.
“Our interest is to see our neighbours including the Republic of Sudan
live in peace. We want to live as good neighbours so that our people
benefit from the mutual cooperation and promote build two viable
states living side by side in peace and harmony", he stressed.
Minister Nyuon further added that his country had fully implemented
the cooperation agreement and the implementation matrix as it was
agreed by the two parties and that they were expecting Sudan to do the
same.
“It is the other side, which is not showing commitment and honour
their promises. On our side, [we] have fully implemented and everybody
knows this. It was done in a transparent manner. The international and
local media were accorded the opportunity to go to the areas where we
withdrew", he said, adding that South Sudan had completely withdrawn
its forces from the buffer zone as per the agreement.
The troops from both sides, Nyuon told reporters, were to withdraw
from the border areas, especially the those identified as buffer zones
in the security arrangement, but the government failed.
"They have not moved until today”, he said.
On her part, however, the Norwegian defence minister assured Nyuon of
her country’s readiness and commitment to support the African Union’s
position that the two countries should fully implement the accord.
Minister Strøm-Erichsen also pledged the willingness of her country to
continue strengthening military cooperation between the countries in
areas of training and helping the new nation to transform its army
from a guerrilla force into a professional army capable of defending
the country.
“It was a good meeting which discussed number of important issues. I
had a briefing by the minister of defence on current security
situation between Sudan and South Sudan which is one of the concerns
of everybody at the moment", she said.
(ST)
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