07.07.11 Menas Borders
Sudanese troops mass near border as South Sudan prepares for independence
The SPLM's Salva Kiir will declare South Sudan a new country on Saturday
With just days until Africa sees its newest state born, violence continues in
Sudan's northern border state of Southern Kordofan.
The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) has identified an apparent massing of northern troops in Southern
Kordofan's capital, Kadugli. There appears to be a convoy with Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) vehicles and artillery stretching two kilometres in length, and manned by
approximately 1,000 troops.
SSP has also released satellite imagery from Monday 4th July which shows SAF
aircraft and helicopter gunships at the Kadugli airfield, which seems to
support
reports that SAF had used helicopters to hunt Nuba people in Southern
Kordofan's
Nuba Mountains region.
According to UN reports, over 70,000 people have fled the state since violence
began in early June, many of whom have crossed into what will soon be South
Sudan.
A UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report issued on 5th July confirmed violence in and around Kadugli every
day from 30th June to 5th July, which suggests the situation is not getting any
less volatile.
While there have been rumours that the agreement between Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the northern sector of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM-N) that was signed in late June in Addis Ababa, had collapsed, the NCP
has insisted it is holding.
A NCP spokesperson said that Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir had met with
former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who has led the African Union
mediation
efforts, which showed that the agreement was still being upheld.
Mbeki told reporters that he met with Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir on 6th
July to discuss Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile.
The Addis Ababa agreement said the NCP would recognize the SPLM-N's right to
continue "as a legal political party in Sudan." Al-Bashir said on 4th July that the SPLM-N had yet to conform to laws on
creating political parties, and therefore could not yet be recognised.
While the agreement dedicated both sides to working on a ceasefire agreement, on
Friday, 1st July, Al-Bashir instructed the SAF to continue military operations
in Southern Kordofan, according to the Sudan Tribune.
It is alleged that northern forces have been targeting the Nuba people, many of
whom fought on behalf of the SPLM/A during Sudan's two decade long civil war.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement which brought the civil war to an end established the process by which South
Sudan will now become independent. But very little, other than ill-defined
popular
consultations, was specified for those in the north who had fought against
Khartoum.
In the run up to the South's independence, southerners in the northern army have
been being dismissed. The final group will be dismissed in a 'dismissal ceremony' on 7th July.
According to SAF spokesman Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa'ad, all of the dismissed had received their full financial and pension
entitelements.
Sa'ad was scathing in regards to the SPLA's actions in the north, and said that
SPLA fighters from the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile were dismissed without
financial entitlement or moral support.
“The SPLA left the northern Sudanese who fought alongside it to face an unknown
future”, Sa'ad said.
South Sudan has planned considerable celebrations for Saturday 9th July, when
they will declare their independence. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he will attend.
Sudan's Al-Bashir announced on 7th July that he planned to attend.
The US has announced it will send a delegation that includes a number of high
ranking diplomats and military figures and will be headed by US envoy to the
UN, Susan Rice. There was originally speculation that US President Barack Obama would attend,
but it does not appear this will happen.
While South Sudan will be an independent nation as on Saturday, it still has not
resolved a number of issues with the north, including border demarcation,
ownership of Abyei, and how to deal with oil revenues.
Sources: Egyptian Gazette, Satellite Sentinel Project, Sudan Tribune, Sudan
Vision, Times of India, UN OCHA
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