South Sudan Denies Supporting Any Side in Sudan Conflict

Tut Kew Gatluak South Sudanese President Senior Adviser in Khartoum meeting with the Head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah Al Burahn on May 26, 2022

August 16, 2024 (JUBA) – South Sudan denied on Friday supporting any group in the ongoing Sudanese conflict, cautioning that any such involvement could trigger a wider regional war.

The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) includes South Sudanese nationals from a certain ethnic group as mercenaries. This has led the Sudanese military to insinuate that high-ranking South Sudanese government officials, who share ethnic ties with the mercenaries and have business connections with the RSF, are complicit.

South Sudan officials have refuted these allegations, highlighting President Salva Kiir’s and his administration’s efforts to mediate a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

South Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as the Presidential Adviser on National Security Affairs, characterized the allegations as deliberate attempts by extremists to undermine peace efforts and create discord between the two nations.

“This is not true, and clarifications have been made through appropriate diplomatic channels,” said Minister Ramadan Mohamed Abdallah Goch. “The government uses official mechanisms, not media, to address these unfounded allegations.”

The minister emphasized the existing cordial relations and cooperation with the transitional sovereign council and the efforts to mediate a humanitarian ceasefire between the two SPLM-N and the Sudanese military.

South Sudan’s Presidential Adviser on National Security Affairs, Tut Gatluak, described perceptions that the government supports a side in the Sudanese conflict as “unfortunate,” stating it was not in the country’s or its leadership’s interest.

Gatluak expressed optimism that the Sudanese leadership has the power to de-escalate the situation instead of making accusations against regional friends and countries making genuine peace efforts.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, but the country remains economically tied to Sudan, exporting its oil through Sudan for sale in international markets. Many South Sudanese also remain in Sudan, with some returning there during periods of conflict in South Sudan.