South Sudan dismisses alleged military support to Ethiopian rebels as ‘baseless’

JUBA – South Sudan government on Friday dismissed as untrue ongoing allegations that it is supplying weapons and ammunition to Ethiopia’s Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), acknowledging Ethiopian people’s support during South Sudan’s liberation struggle.

Speaking to journalists following a weekly cabinet meeting on Friday in Juba, South Sudan’s Minister of Information, Communication, and Postal Services Michael Makuei Lueth described the ongoing confusion on social media about the alleged supply of arms to Ethiopian rebels as baseless.

“These issues were discussed and the government found that the government of South Sudan is not involved in all these allegations in any way because there is no way we can even work against the government of Ethiopia,”  Makuei told journalists.

“The Ethiopian and the government of Ethiopia all these years have been standing with us and without the support of Ethiopian and the government, we would not have been independent. There is no way whereby we can say we are supporting Ethiopian rebels in order to overthrow the system in Ethiopia,” Makuei added.

Makuei said the South Sudan government is finding it difficult to graduate forces at the training centers due to a lack of firearms.

“We don’t we get these resources if we are unable to even graduate our forces now because of the absence of arms. Should we give arms to the rebels and leave our forces. All these are allegations and the government distances it from all these allegations as baseless and unfounded because there is no way we can fight or encourage any group of people against the government of Ethiopia,” he said.

“We have to make this very clear and assure the Ethiopian government that we are with them, we are with the government and people of Ethiopia and we will never work against them. However, if there are any individuals who may be selling arms, these might be individuals who are in possession of their own private firearms and if they are doing that, they are doing it at their own risk,” he added.