South Sudan has denied it is hosting Sudanese rebels, claiming it was the government of Sudan from which it seceded in 2011 which provides support to armed groups with vision to change regime under President Salva Kiir through unconstitutional means.
“There are no Sudanese rebels on South Sudan soil, instead it is Sudan supporting South Sudan rebels,” Information Minister Michael Makuei told reporters yesterday after Council of Ministers meeting. “I was expecting the Americans to tell Sudanese to stop harboring rebels of South Sudan, but the opposite came in from them to demand us to stop supporting Sudanese rebels and we don’t have their presence in our country,” he said.
But while minister Makuei denies, Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk admitted the presence of the Sudanese rebel in the country and said the government had ordered all Sudanese rebel troops to leave its territory in line with an agreement with its northern neighbor against supporting insurgents. Kuol said the government was committed to implementing the 2012 cooperation agreement. In fulfilling the deal, he said the government withdrew its soldiers from the frontier with its neighbour in line with the agreement and is planning a joint border patrol with Sudan.
Both Kuol and Makuei were reacting to a statement by United States in which it said it has credible information and reports that South Sudan continues to host and provide supports to Sudanese rebels.
“Despite its obligations under international law and repeated agreements with Sudan to end such support, credible reports still indicate South Sudan is sheltering and assisting armed Sudanese opposition groups,” according to U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
Toner stressed that the presence of Sudanese armed opposition forces in South Sudan and their involvement in South Sudan’s internal conflicts destabilizes both nations, he said. Continued support also violates terms of an agreement for resolving South Sudan’s conflict.
“We urge South Sudan’s leaders to redouble their efforts to meet the commitments they recently reached with Sudan under which both sides agreed to end support for armed opposition groups on either side,” Toner said in a statement published on the department’s website.