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September 27, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir has vowed to show no laxity in defending the country against “traitors”, urging fighters in the war-hit states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile to lay down arms.
- Sudan President Omer AL-Bashir (FILE)
Sudan’s border states of South Kordofan descended into violence since early June and late August respectively after clashes erupted between the country’s army (SAF) and forces of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) which was aligned with the independent state of South Sudan.
The Sudanese government insists that SPLM-N combatants who fought alongside the south in Sudan’s north-south civil war be disarmed or move to the south as stipulated by the security arrangements protocol of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended the war.
After the outbreak of war in Blue Nile, the Sudanese government officially banned the SPLM-N as a political party and closed its offices in the north.
Al-Bashir, who was addressing a graduation ceremony in the capital Khartoum on Tuesday, said that there would be no compromise in the country’s security or in dealing with traitor.
“There will be no neglect in dealing with traitors because Sudan is protected by strong hands and an army that does not know defeat,” he said, according to reports by Sudan’s official news agency.
Al-Bashir stressed that the government was still committed to the CPA’s security arrangement in Blue Nile and South Kordofan, adding that the doors were wide open for anyone who wants to return.
Furthermore, Al-Bashir called on the people fighting in South Kordofan and Blue Nile to renounce arms and return to participate in the development, saying that Khartoum will not “sanction the existence of two armies in one country.”
He also added that the constitution and rules of political activities state that no political party is allowed to have an army, in reference to the SPLM-N.
The Sudanese president this week said his government was willing to negotiate a peaceful settlement to the crisis in Blue Nile and South Kordofan but stressed that his government would not negotiate on any terms other than those already existing in the CPA.
(ST)
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