Sudan Wants Tangible Evidence to Prove End of Support to Rebels

President of Sudan Omar Hassan al-Bashir, former South African President Thabo Mbeki and President Silva Kiir of South Sudan at a cooperation agreement celebration in Ethiopia. The two states have pledged to end differences., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

MONDAY 15 JULY 2013

Sudan wants tangible evidence to prove the end of support to rebel groups

July 14, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said they are still waiting for evidence proving that Juba has stopped its support to the rebel groups and ended its relations with the SPLM-N.

The statements were released on Sunday evening following the weekly meeting of the NCP political sector. Some hours before, the security services emailed a report the news rooms of national newspapers alleging that SPLM-N deputy leader Abdel Aziz El-Hilu and Gibril Ibrahim of JEM have arrived on Saturday to Juba before heading to Kampala where the rebels are schedule to hold a leadership meeting.

"We are still waiting for tangible evidence proving the end of relations with the so-called SPLM-North and Revolutionary Front, and the stoppage of support which, in our view, is still continuing in a way or another", said media secretary Yasir Youssef on Sunday.

He further called on Juba to accept the recent initiative of Thabo Mbeki, chairman of the African Union mediation between the two countries, over the centreline on the border between the two countries.

"We call on the South Sudanese government to accept it and to implement it on the ground and to show more seriousness on the stoppage of support [to the rebel groups] and to end its relations with the [SPLM-N]", he further said.

Juba rejects the Sudanese allegations of support to the SPLM-N and SRF rebels, and accuses Khartoum of supporting its rebels including David Yau Yau in the troubled Pibor county of Jonglei state.

Last Friday, the South Sudanese vice-president Riek Machar chaired a meeting with the concerned ministers to prepare a visit of an African team of experts to discuss the determination of the centreline, which is necessary to implement the demilitarised buffer zone between the two countries.

The meeting further discussed a new letter, dated 7 July, by the Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir which continues to put pressure on South Sudan on the 60 days ultimatum of oil shutdown plan as Khartoum insists that Juba was harbouring and supporting the rebels.

(ST)