South Sudan opposition demands evacuation of citizens from Sudan

JUBA – The United People’s Alliance (UPA), a South Sudanese opposition group, on Monday condemned the alleged killings of South Sudanese citizens in Sudan and called on the government to immediately evacuate its nationals from the country.

The UPA, led by Pagan Amum, expressed deep concern over the ongoing violence against South Sudanese citizens in Sudan, particularly in the country’s Al Jazira State where the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) flashed out the rebellious paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The opposition group highlighted the plight of many South Sudanese who continue to face hardship and even death in Khartoum.

“As you all know that our people have been killed in Sudan. We in the United Peoples Alliance condemn this terrorist act by an Islamic militia that has been killing our people for so many years,” UPA spokesperson and Secretary-General Lual Dau said in a media statement.

“The killing is still ongoing! I talked to relatives in Sudan, many of them are still facing the same situation. Some have decided to run away, and they are now between Sudan and South Sudan,” he added.

Dau urged the South Sudanese government to “make sure that they rescue people along the borderline” and “evacuate the rest of South Sudanese back home to South Sudan.” He stressed that “condemning it alone is not enough; we need action and the action is now.”

These calls come amid growing tensions between the two countries. South Sudan has expressed frustration over delays in the investigation into the killing of its citizens in Wad Madani, Sudan.

During high-level talks in Juba between South Sudan’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Monday Semaya, and Sudanese Ambassador to South Sudan, Issam Mohamed Karrar, over the weekend, South Sudan reiterated its concerns.

South Sudan Foreign Affairs Minister, Ramadhan Abdallah Goc, while addressing the UN Security Council on Thursday, lamented the “inhuman killing of innocent South Sudanese in Wad Madani.”

He called upon the Security Council to join in a call for an investigation into the killings.

However, these statements were met with criticism from the Sudanese government. The Sudanese Foreign Ministry criticized Goc’s call for UN and AU intervention, deeming it “unjustified and unacceptable.”