November 13, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese defense minister, Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein, has pointed fingers at South Sudan, saying the latter is devoting all its resources to destabilise his country.

Sudan’s Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein (Reuters)

The top military official claimed that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) seized heavy armory belonging to South Sudan during the fighting with rebels from Sudan people Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) in Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Both states border the newly independent state of South Sudan and their population largely fought alongside the south during Sudan’s north-south second civil war 1983-2005.

Hussein stressed in the interview with Al-Shorooq TV that South Sudan’s support to rebels has become “crystal clear” to the international community. He pointed to new evidence they found, showing SPLM-N rebels operating from areas inside South Sudan including Juba and Yei.

The Sudanese army has been fighting the SPLM-N rebels in South Kordofan since June and in Blue Nile since September. Khartoum accused the rebels of provoking the fighting while SPLM-N claimed that SAF wanted to forcibly disarm them.

Since the fighting started, Khartoum has accused Juba of providing military aid to the SPLM-N, and as such has lodged two complaints so far this year, with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) protesting this.

This week, tensions escalated between the two countries after an SAF fighter jet was reported to have bombed a refugee camp inside South Sudan near the borders causing an unspecified number of casualties. The incident drew strong condemnation from the United Nations and the United States.

Sudan denied carrying out any military activity in the region and said that there are no refugee camps for Sudanese citizens in the south, but gatherings of rebel groups.

The Sudanese defense minister echoed these statements, saying that SAF does not have any military targets in South Sudan and that the battles are ongoing inside Sudan.

“It is not true that there are refugees from Sudan in the south, but there are Southern refugees in the North," Hussein said.

He also warned South Sudan that SAF soldiers fight for Islamic values and a nation.

"The brothers in the south must remember that they did not enter the cities of Juba, Wau and Malakal as conquerors, but they entered under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement" Hussein said.

In a related issue the Sudanese government said that the rebel alliance deal announced yesterday is new proof that South Sudan is hosting rebel leaders.

Yesterday the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the two main factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid Al-Nur (SLM-AW) and Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) and SPLM-N announced the establishment of a new alliance called the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF).

The statement issued by the SRF from an unspecified location is resolved to bring down the regime of the National Congress Party (NCP) through popular and military means. They also announced their determination to fight the regime in all of Sudan’s regions including the capital Khartoum.

The spokesperson of the Sudanese government, Kamal Obeid, said that Juba’s support to rebels is an indication of their ill-intentions.

Obeid said that South Sudan is evading its main functions with regard to its relations with Sudan or neighbouring countries. He said that the rebel groups were dependent on Libya and Chad for support and are now looking to Juba for help even though it has no means to do so.

The NCP deputy media officer Yasir Youssef said that the new alliance is one with an agenda of racism and sabotage. He called on South Sudan to stop supporting the rebels and worry about its own internal problems.

(ST)