South Sudan denies backing South Kordofan rebels
JUBA Aug 31 (Reuters) – South Sudan on Wednesday denied accusations by Khartoum that it was helping rebels in South Kordofan, Sudan’s main oil-producing state, where fighting broke out with government troops in June.
The south won independence from the north last month after a January referendum promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war in the vast African country.
Sudan sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday accusing the south of causing instability and disrupting peace in the neighbouring state of South Kordofan.
“This is an absolute lie on behalf of the government in Khartoum. We are not giving any support to the rebels,” South Sudan’s Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) fought alongside its southern counterpart against Khartoum during the civil war in which some two million people perished.
Benjamin said the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) now has no links with the SPLM-N.
Sudan’s foreign ministry on Tuesday accused the South of “standing behind all hostile activities in South Kordofan” and “supporting it with weaponry and equipment”.
Benjamin rejected the charges. “Khartoum is trying to set up a smokescreen to cover up Security Council concerns that they are bombing civilians in South Kordofan,” he said.
Rights groups say Khartoum has broken its own ceasefire announced last week in South Kordofan by continuing to bomb civilians indiscriminately, frequently rolling bombs manually out of Antonov cargo planes.
According to a leaked U.N. report, the Sudanese army has carried out killings, arbitrary arrests, abductions, attacks on churches and aerial bombardment in Southern Kordofan which, if proven, might constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Researchers from New York-based Human Rights Watch and London-based Amnesty International say some of these allegations have now been proven.
The Sudanese government has dismissed the U.N. report as unfounded and malicious and has said it will form its own committee to assess the situation in South Kordofan.
Under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, South Kordofan and Blue Nile state, which also fell north of the disputed border after the south seceded, were offered popular consultations to decide their future relations with Khartoum, but these have yet to take place.
“(Khartoum) has failed to bring peace to Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile. They are looking for a scapegoat and blaming the South,” Benjamin said. (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com) (Reporting by Hereward Holland; Editing by Alistair Lyon)
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL5E7JV27W20110831?sp=true
South Sudan Denies Supporting Rebels in Southern Kordofan
South Sudan’s government has rejected an accusation from Sudan that it supports rebels in a conflict-ridden Sudanese border state.
In a statement Wednesday, South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “categorically denies” the accusation that it supports rebels in Sudan’s Southern Kordofan state.
South Sudan said the conflict in the state is partly due to differences between Sudan’s ruling party and the southern-allied SPLM party that followed last year’s elections.
South Sudan also urged Sudan to implement provisions of a 2005 peace deal that ended Sudan’s long north-south civil war, especially those addressing the rights of the people of Southern Kordofan.
Sudan made its accusation against South Sudan in a complaint submitted Tuesday to the U.N. Security Council.
Sudan’s government is battling ethnic Nuba fighters in Southern Kordofan, who are seen as supporters of South Sudan, which declared independence from the north in July.
Nuba fighters supported the south during Sudan’s 21-year war.
On Tuesday, two human rights groups said Sudan’s army may have committed war crimes in Southern Kordofan. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said they have evidence of an “indiscriminate bombing campaign” by Sudanese forces.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it was deeply concerned by reports of aerial bombings of civilian areas and called on both sides to agree to abide by a two-week cease-fire in Southern Kordofan.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir called for the cease-fire last week. The fighting near the Sudan-South Sudan border has forced tens of thousands of Nuba from their homes.
Also Tuesday, the United Nations said Sudan’s government has denied aid groups access to Southern Kordofan, leaving many people in a life-threatening situation.
The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation on the accusations of the Government of Sudan regarding the alleged support to rebels in Southern Kordufan and Darfur.
http://www.goss-online.org/magnoliaPublic/en/news/mainColumnParagraphs/0117/content_files/file/Statement%20of%20Foreign%20Affairs%2031%20August%202011.pdf
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