---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2011 10:59:44 +0300 Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: South Sudan rejects Khartoum's South Kordofan complaint To: Group <[email protected]>
"The Sudanese government is literally getting away with murder and trying to keep the outside world from finding out" (AI - article 2, below). This initiative smacks of a further attempt by Khartoum to divert attention from its own actions in South Kordofan. John BEGIN 1. South Sudan brushes aside Khartoum’s complaint to UNSC August 30, 2011 (NAIROBI) – The Sudanese government on Tuesday sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) accusing South Sudan of supporting rebels in South Kordofan and Darfur, a charge Juba has categorically denied. Recrimination and tension have defined the relations between north and South Sudan since the latter declared independence from Sudan in July this year per a vote promised under 2005’s peace deal which ended more than two-decades of civil war between the two sides. The north-south border state of South Kordofan descended into a state of war since early June between Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and fighters of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), an offshoot of the party that rules South Sudan. SPLM-N fighters are mostly affiliated to South Kordofan’s Nuba population which largely sided with the south during the war. The letter sent by Sudan’s foreign minister Ali Karti spoke of the commitment demonstrated by GoS in implementing the peace deal’s provisions in contrast with “recurring” violations by the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) of the same deal. “The positions of the Republic of South Sudan (RoSS) have always been hostile towards Sudan,” the letter alleged. The letter went on to say that the hostilities are represented in the “continued” sheltering and support rendered by RoSS to Sudan’s rebel groups in the western region of Darfur and South Kordofan. It also cited allegations of numerous violations of the peace deal, including GoS’s [sic] deployment of 2500 soldiers in the hotly contested region of Abyei under the guise of police forces, failure to disarm its fighters in South Kordofan or withdraw them behind the 1956 border strip, sponsoring a conference this month to mobilize rebels in South Kordofan and Darfur to topple the Sudanese government through armed struggle. “The government of RoSS has been standing behind all hostile actions in South Kordofan and supports them with arms and [military] machinery,” Sudan’s letter said. It further claimed that RoSS continues to “incite the SPLM-N to wage a proxy war” in South Kordofan. Sudan encouraged the UNSC to harness its jurisdictions to bring South Sudan to commit to the agreements signed between the two states and cease support for Darfur and South Kordofan’s rebels. In response, South Sudan has denied Sudan’s accusation, suggesting that the blame for South Kordofan’s troubles rests solely on Khartoum’s shoulders. “There is no element of truth whatsoever in Sudan’s accusations,” South Sudan’s information minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Sudan Tribune on Tuesday. Benjamin said that Khartoum has only itself to blame for South Kordofan’s war because it failed to implement the popular consultation vote in the area as stipulated under the peace agreement with South Sudan. South Sudan’s minister vowed that his country would respond to the letter at the UNSC because the complaint has no justifications. “The Sudanese government is bombing civilians in South Kordofan, how do we come in?” he asked. International groups blamed aerial bombardment carried out by Sudan’s army for numerous causalities in the area. According to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, their researchers led a week-long mission to the area in late August and were able to establish that SAF had carried out 13 air strikes in Kauda, Delami and Kurchi areas where at least 26 civilians were killed and more than 45 others injured since mid-June. Sudan’s president Omer hassan Al-Bashir recently announced a two week-long unilateral ceasefire in South Kordofan as political settlement to the conflict remained elusive. But the Sudanese army on Monday reported it had clashed with SPLM-N rebels in few areas, accusing the rebels of attempting to exploit the ceasefire. SPLM-N’s secretary-general Yasir Arman said that Al-Bashir’s ceasefire is a public relations stunt aiming to hoodwink the international community and prepare the ground for a military offensive. Today the US called on Khartoum to respect its own declared truce. "The United States is deeply concerned about reports of continued Sudanese Air Force bombings of civilian areas in Southern Kordofan," despite the truce, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. UN reports accused the Sudanese army and its allied paramilitary forces of committing wide-ranging atrocities in South Kordofan, including "extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests and illegal detention, enforced disappearances and attacks against civilians." The UN said the allegations, if substantiated, could amount to crimes against humanity or war crimes. The Sudan government labeled the report as biased. (ST) END1 2. South Kordofan: Sudan takes border clashes to UN BBC 30 August 2011 Last updated at 12:20 GMT Sudan has lodged a complaint with the UN Security Council, accusing newly independent South Sudan of backing rebels in an oil-rich border region. Earlier, human rights groups accused Sudan of bombing civilian areas of South Kordofan, despite declaring a ceasefire there last week. The UN says some 200,000 people have fled the area, where Sudan has denied charges of ethnic cleansing. Many ethnic Nubans fought with the south during the two-decade civil war. After the independence of South Sudan, they found themselves led by the Khartoum government which they had spent years fighting. The unrest began after the Sudanese authorities tried to disarm the fighters. But human rights groups have accused Sudan of the indiscriminate bombing and shelling of civilian areas. It is difficult to get accurate information from the area as journalists and diplomats are barred from the region and the UN faces restrictions on its movement. South Kordofan is the only oil-producing region in Sudan, as some 75% of the unified country's oil came from what is now South Sudan. 'Getting away with murder' Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti accused the South Sudanese government of being "hostile" towards its northern neighbour. "We were the first to acknowledge an independent South Sudan and extended a hand of cooperation," the state-run Suna news agency quoted him as saying. Mr Bashir's ceasefire announcement, made last week during an unannounced visit to the state's capital Kadugli, caught his own military - and the rebels they are fighting - by surprise, says the BBC's James Copnall. However, researchers from both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say they saw Antonov planes dropping bombs in what they say appeared to be civilian areas. They also accuse the Sudanese government of blocking aid deliveries to desperate displaced people. "The Sudanese government is literally getting away with murder and trying to keep the outside world from finding out," said Amnesty's Donatella Rovera. "The international community, and particularly the UN Security Council, must stop looking the other way and act to address the situation." The Sudanese authorities say they are fighting a legitimate war against rebels, and any air raids are on military targets. A UN report published this month warned that war crimes may have been committed in South Kordofan. It said that atrocities had been committed on both sides, but the army's actions were "especially egregious" - referring to summary executions, aerial bombardments and the shelling of neighbourhoods. When South Sudan split from the north on 9 July, the new country's leader, Salva Kiir, said he would work with Mr Bashir to ensure the rights of former southern rebels in the north were respected. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14718892 END2 3. Former Territory Inciting Violence at Border, Sudan Tells the U.N. Washington Post By JOSH KRON Published: August 30, 2011 KAMPALA, Uganda — The Sudanese government has filed a complaint with the Security Council that South Sudan, its newly independent neighbor and former territory, is inciting violence and instability in the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan, a volatile border area where United Nations officials warn that war crimes may have been committed in recent months. The New York Times Related Times Topics: South Sudan | Sudan A spokesman for the Sudanese government in Khartoum said Tuesday that South Sudan was supporting Nuban rebels with weapons and logistical support. “We have documented proof” that the rebels receive aid and instructions from the south, said the spokesman, Rabie A. Atti. “All of them are one group, and they are moving as one group,” Mr. Atti added. “Soldiers, weapons, tanks, everything.” Many people in the Nuba Mountains fought alongside the southern Sudanese through decades of civil war in Sudan, but while the south gained independence last month, the Nuba Mountains remained Sudanese territory, and an insurrection has been building there in recent months. With the south’s independence, the conflict has taken on an international dimension. “This threatening is coming from a foreign country, and this should be handled by the Security Council,” Mr. Atti said. A United Nations official in New York confirmed that it had received a letter on Monday evening from the Sudanese government, written in Arabic, accusing both the South Sudanese government and the Sudanese wing of its governing party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, or S.P.L.M., of violating the peace agreement. Neither South Sudan’s minister of information nor its army spokesman could be reached for comment. The northern government has long accused South Sudan of propping up the Nuban rebels, who, like the southerners, are non-Arabs and have suffered discrimination under the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. The liberation movement maintains a wing in the north, and Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, a senior Nuban politician, has been known to refer to President Salva Kiir of South Sudan as “Chairman Salva.” Human-rights groups and some United Nations officials have accused the northern government of indiscriminate bombings and widespread human-rights abuses in the Nuba Mountains this summer. Some fear that the mountains could become the next Darfur, another conflict-racked region of Sudan, where brutal repression has led to the indictment of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan by the International Criminal Court. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/world/africa/31sudan.html?_r=1 END3 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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