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Sudan says South backing for rebels risks stability
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Sudan, which has rejected a return to the negotiating table, accused South Sudan of undermining its stability by backing rebels inside its territory despite international appeals for it to stop.The "South Sudan government did not respond to the repeated calls of the international community and continued its hostile activities to undermine the stability and security of Sudan," said the foreign ministry. The statement, carried by SUNA state news agency late on Monday, followed a new wave of Sudanese air raids against the South that drew swift condemnation from the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... , United States and La Belle France. It came after Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir  Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. ruled out any future talks with rival South leader Salva Kiir, who was in Beijing to drum up support from China, a traditional Khartoum ally. Sudan accuses the South of supporting anti-government rebels from its conflict-hit western region of Darfur as well as those fighting in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states. The South, which split from Sudan in July 2011 following an independence referendum, denies backing opposition movements in the north. UN leader  the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... , meanwhile, deplored the cross-border air raids, and called on Bashir and Kiir to stop the "slide" to war after months of escalation along their oil-rich border. "The secretary-general condemns the aerial bombardment on South Sudan by Sudanese armed forces and calls on the government of Sudan to cease all hostilities immediately," said deputy UN front man Eduardo del Buey. Posted by: Fred 2012-04-25 |
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