Kiir, Burhan must end support for proxies fueling tribal conflicts before Sudan sign peace deal with Hilu – opposition group

KHARTOUM – A Sudanese opposition group has said that governments of President Salva Kiir Mayardit in South Sudan and ousted government of Omar Hassan Ahmed el Bashir were arming proxies in both countries to undermine stability, urging the military council in Khartoum to first sign an agreement with Kiir’s government to end support for rebels in both countries before reaching an agreement with the SPLM-North.

South Sudan government is currently negotiating peace between the Sudanese transitional government and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North (SPLM/A-North) led by renegade General Abdel Aziz Adam Al Hilu in Juba and there has reportedly been several conditions given by the Sudanese government negotiators during talks including end of alleged South Sudan government support for the rebel group.

The SPLM-North was a part of the ruling Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) in South Sudan before the former Sudanese southern region became an independent country in July 2011. One month before secession of South Sudan in 2011, civil war broke out over election dispute in the Nuba Mountains between the SPLM-North and the government in Khartoum.

Following independence, civil wars and ethnic conflicts broke out in South Sudan. Since then, the government of Sudan under President el Bashir and its South Sudan counterparts under President Salva Kiir Mayardit have both been exchanging accusations and barbs over support for rebels in both countries.

In a statement last week, the Sudanese Umma Party faction led by Mubarak Fadl said it has recommended to the President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and his first deputy and commander of the Rapid Support Force (RSF) General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo to negotiate end of support to rebels groups with the government of South Sudan before signing an agreement with Hilu’s SPLM-North.

The statement said the former Sudanese regime of Omar el Bashir had been supporting tribal groups in South Sudan including the SPLM-IO led by Dr. Riek Machar Teny and the South Sudanese government has also been supporting opposition groups including the SPLM-North in Sudan and as such there was need to end the unlawful practice of jeopardizing stability in the two countries.

“The National Islamic Front (NIF) regime took action to fuel and arms any tribal conflict in South Sudan. It supported the rebellion of the Murle tribe in Jonglei state, then embraced and supported the rebel group of Dr. Riek Machar, which was is relying on Nuer and Shilluk tribes,” the statement seen by Sudans Post reads in part.

“The proxy war between the NIF and the state of South Sudan continued with the government of NIF supporting the Nuer, Shilluk and Murle rebellions on the one hand and the government of South Sudan arming, supporting and harboring the 9^th and 10^th divisions of the SPLM/SPLA in the Sudan’s Nuba Mountains led by Abdul Aziz Al-Hilu,” the statement added.

The statement continued: “We have previously held consultations with the leadership of the Government of South Sudan, and based on the results of these consultations, we advised the Chairman of the Sovereign Council, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, and his deputy, the Commander of the Rapid Support Forces, on the necessity of reaching a peace and non-aggression treaty between the Government of Sudan and the Government of the State of South Sudan to end the proxy war between the two countries before entering into any peace agreement with the SPLM North.”