South Sudan’s Deputy Minister for Defence and War Veterans, MajakD’Agot, stated that the Sudanese government has built-up its forces along the border with South Sudan.
He claimed that the Khartoum government is trying to establish a military presence alongside Western Bahr el-Ghazal, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Upper Nile states as well as in the previously contested oil-producing area, Heglig. In addition, he claimed that they have violated South Sudanese airspace, as monitored and certified by the UN.
Radio Tamazuj wasn’t able to reach anyone from the Sudanese government for comment on this.
D’Agotre affirmed his country’s commitment to respecting and upholding the joint cooperation agreement signed between Juba and Khartoum late last year. He did, however, state the need to protect South Sudan’s national sovereignty.
According to the county commissioner for Renk the Governor of South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, Simon Kun Puoch, conducted an inspection tour along his state’s border with Sudan. This followed the reports of SAF attacks on SPLA posts in his state, resulting in dead and wounded South Sudanese soldiers.
Meanwhile citizens Radio Tamazuj spoke to near the border have also expressed their fear at the renewed threat of war between the two countries while D’Agot called upon the international community to intervene.
Hopes for curtailing the current escalation were dampened by the news that further peace talks between the two parties, which were expected to take place next Thursday in Addis Ababa, have apparently been postponed by Khartoum. While both sides acknowledge that they didn’t receive an official invitation from the African Union (AU) mediators, Juba is reported to still be open to attending.
The South Sudanese embassy’s spokesman in Khartoum, Gabriel Deng, said that they expected the joint political and security mechanism’s meetings to start this weekend. “Despite all the disturbances and delays, negotiations will resume next week,” Deng confirmed before adding “Our delegations are ready and the problem is known.”
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for Sudan’s foreign ministry, Obaid Murawah, denied that any negotiations between Juba and Khartoum are planned.
Sources affiliated to the Sudan Armed Forces have reported in Sudanese newspapers yesterday that negotiations are suspended due to repeated accusations of violations committed on the border.
The sources also confirmed the presence of large numbers of SPLA troops on the border,and claimed that they are trying to destroy infrastructure on the oil fields.
They added that Juba’s main interests in negotiations are economic. That is, they are believed to want to pressure Khartoum to once again allow South Sudan to pump its oil through the Sudanese pipeline and open the border. Meanwhile, Khartoum was said to consider resolving political and security issues as a priority and a precondition for the implementation of any agreement with Juba.
Both governments signed an agreement facilitated by the AU in September last in which they committed to demilitarising a buffer zone in the contested border region.