November 23, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) reiterated on Tuesday its accusations to the southern Sudan ruling SPLM of supporting Darfur rebel groups and issued a stern warning saying Juba will bear the responsibility of this declaration of war.
- An armoured column of JEM fighting vehicles drive to a meeting between its leader Khalil Ibrahim, and UN AU Envoys for Darfur April 18, 2008 (Reuters)
Since the recent clashes with the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in Darfur and Kordofan, the northern Sudan NCP and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) accused Juba of harboring and supporting the rebel group.
Officials from the SPLM and JEM played down the accusations but Khartoum insisted saying it has evidences of this support. The Sudanese army went further to bomb the rebels in Aweil north county, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State.
Today, NCP Secretary for political relations said the SPLM is leading forced recruitment campaign among the Darfurians who are in southern Sudan to join JEM rebels who established training camps in the south. He further said 57 wounded rebels have been treated in South Sudan.
Mohamed Mandour Al-Mahdi went to say they consider harboring Darfur rebels in Juba “a declaration of war”. He demanded the SPLM to remove urgently the rebel groups outside southern Sudan and to stop all the political and logistical support it provides to these movements.
“If the SPLM refuses to respond to these demands then it must bear responsibility for the consequences,” he warned.
Mandour also mentioned the heavy presence of armed vehicles belonging to JEM rebels in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and the markets of its capital Aweil.
Sudan Armed Forces spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khaled, last week said the southern Sudan army evacuated wounded JEM rebels to Juba, stressing this support is a clear violation of the military and security protocols of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Western sources alleged that Washington had warned the Southern Sudan government from supporting JEM rebels saying this would complicate their efforts to ensure the conduct of the referendum on self-determination on time.
Salva Kiir in a speech he delivered Tuesday at the IGAD meeting in Addis Ababa highlighted that only negotiated agreement will bring peace in Darfur.
“No new strategy can work for Darfur until all parties are brought to the negotiating table to agree for peaceful settlement.”
A delegation of the rebel JEM which suspended since May its participation in the peace process sponsored by the Qatari government arrived Tuesday in Doha to resume discussions they engaged last week with the mediation on ways to resume peace talks with the Sudanese government.
(ST)