Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 10:31:36 -0400
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Berhane Habtemariam <Berhane.Habtemariam_at_gmx.de>
Date: Sun, Apr 13, 2014 at 4:01 PM
Subject: Sudantribune.com: South Sudan: Rebels Accuse Egypt of Supplying
Arms Govt
To: Dehai-News_at_dehai.org
South Sudan: Rebels Accuse Egypt of Supplying Arms Govt
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle, 13 April 2014
Addis Ababa -- The SPLM/A in Opposition rebel group led by former
vice-president Riek Machar has accused the Egyptian government of providing
military support to the South Sudanese government.
In a statement extended to Sudan Tribune, the rebel group said the
intervention of foreign forces, and particularly the involvement of Egypt
in the South Sudan crisis, would regionalise the conflict and turn the
young nation into a leading war zone.
Rebel officials said that in addition to Ugandan military support, Sudanese
rebel groups JEM and SPLM-N were in direct combat against its forces
alongside the South Sudanese army (SPLA).
The SPLM splinter group says the intervention of foreign forces not only
contravenes the country's territorial integrity, but is also in violation
of international laws, calling on external forces to immediately withdraw
from the country.
JONGLEI CANAL PLAN
The group further accused president Salva Kiir of secretly planning to
reinvigorate the Jonglei canal project, a source of conflict
datingdating[image:
http://cdncache1-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png]<http://allafrica.com/stories/201404130067.html?viewall=1>back
to 1983.
Under the proposal water would be diverted through the vast Sudd wetlands
of, delivering more greater flows downstream to Egypt.
Rebels claim the move would displace the majority of the population of the
upper Nile region and deny them their traditional livelihood, while
allowing some two-and-a-half million Egyptian farmers (known as fellahin)
to resettle along the canal.
Sudan Tribune was unable to independently verify the claims.
However, SPLM in Opposition youth wing president Puot Kang Chol said if the
canal goes ahead it would turn the Greater Upper Nile turn into the war
zone.
Rebels have called for an end to any external military support to the Kiir
government and for regional nations to take a neutral position if the
crisis in South Sudan is to be resolved sooner.
"We urge them (the Egyptians) to undertake a neutral and impartial position
in this crisis as they did during our 50 years of struggle," said Chol.
REGIONAL FORCE REJECTED
Rebels are also demanding that the Intergovernmental Authority on
Development (IGAD), the East African regional bloc mediating South Sudan's
warring parties, lay the foundations for the formation of an interim
government and Kiir's unconditional resignation.
It is also calling on the African body to refrain from deploying a
so-called stabilisation force inside South Sudan.
A new round of talks between the two warring factions is due to resume on
22 April without the seven former political detainees, who have now been
excluded from taking part.
The seven senior officials from the ruling SPLM, who had been detained in
connection to an alleged plot to overthrow the government, had been taking
part in the IGAD-led peace process following their release.
Their exclusion comes after the South Sudanese government threatened to
boycott talks unless negotiations were restricted to the parties directly
involved, saying the seven detainees could take part in reconciliation
efforts once a formal agreement had been reached.
SPLM-7 STILL HAVE ROLE
Some observers noted that the participation of the SPLM-7 was holding back
the peace process.
However, Yohanis Musa, the spokesperson for the rebel negotiating team,
told Sudan Tribune that his team still believes the SPLM-7 can play a
positive role, even though they will not be signatories to any final peace
accord.
Sudan Tribune has learnt that the seven SPLM former detainees left for
Nairobi on Thursday following IGAD's decision to exclude them from taking
any further part in peace talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
Meanwhile, rebels have renewed their demands for the immediate and
unconditional release of the remaining four SPLM leaders who are currently
on trial for treason.
A tenuous ceasefire deal signed between the warring parties in January has
failed to halt the violence on the ground, with both sides accusing the
other of violating the terms of the agreement.
More than one million have been displaced since the conflict erupted in
mid-December last year.
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