South Sudan urges Sudan to observe security pact to avoid war
Iran Press TV
Mon Jun 10, 2013 2:26PM GMT
South Sudan army has urged Sudan to remain committed to their bilateral security pact to avoid outbreak of armed confrontation between the two African nations.
South Sudanese army spokesman, Colonel Philip Aguer, said on Monday that any breach of the pact “may amount to a declaration of war.”
The remarks come after Sudan’s Information Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman threatened on Sunday to suspend nine security and economic pacts with South Sudan.
“We will stop all nine agreements, not only oil,” Osman said at a news conference, adding, “We are still committed to have good relations with South Sudan and if they are serious about implementing the nine agreements we can return to cooperate with them.”
Osman made the remarks a day after Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir ordered the stoppage of oil transfers through Sudanese territory from South Sudan, saying the government of President Salva Kiir is supporting rebels in Sudan.
Osman and Sudan's intelligence chief Mohammed Atta have both confirmed that the oil shutdown has started and it will continue for 60 days.
Juba denies Khartoum’s accusations of supporting insurgents in Sudan, and in turn accuses Khartoum of propping up rebels in southern regions.
In March, Sudan and South Sudan struck a deal to resume the flow of southern oil exports through pipelines in the north. The pipelines, which are South Sudan's only route to international market, carry oil from the landlocked South through Sudan to a port on the Red Sea.
Two neighbors also agreed to withdraw their troops from contested border areas to ease tensions and facilitate the resumption of oil exports.
South Sudan seceded from the Republic of Sudan on July 9, 2011, after decades of conflict with Khartoum. The new oil-rich nation is one of the least developed countries in the world, with one in seven children dying before the age of five.
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