WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The government of Sudan has today filed a complaint to the Security Council and the African Union alerting them that a Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) military convoy carrying weaponry and rebel fighters entered the republic of South Sudan on Wednesday. Sudan calls on the international community to apply necessary pressure on the Republic of South Sudan so that the latter refrains from harboring and providing any form of assistance to the rebel group and to instead disarm and hand over those wanted for crimes against civilians.
The military convoy, which entered South Sudan through the valley of Hor is estimated to consist of 120 fully equipped land cruisers and armored cars. There were also three sizeable vehicles hauling launchers, three others loaded with submachine guns 37mm, a pair carrying cannons 32mm, a radio communications vehicle transporting 9 military leaders and a few others that carried an estimated 430 fighters. The assortment of weapons is part of the arsenal previously provided to the rebel group by the Kaddafi regime in Libya.
The rebels looted 50 commercial cars from the villages and twelve land cruisers from the gold merchants they attacked. They also kidnapped 500 people and stole two billion Sudanese pounds in property and hard currency. Legal proceedings against the soldiers and leaders of the JEM have been initiated. The convoy crossed the 1956 border entering the republic of South Sudan and is now stationed in Tumsaha. The wounded have reportedly been admitted to a hospital in the area for treatment, and the establishment of a training camp in the southern region is already underway.
While Sudan has so far exercised tremendous restraint and abstained from pursuing the groups beyond the border, the government reemphasizes that the way the Republic of South Sudan deals with this issue will directly correlate with the bilateral relations and future of the two Sudans. Swift action is particularly required from the international community, a witness to the previous unanswered complaint filed by Sudan when SPLA's battalion 9th and 10th crossed the borders. Sudan now files this latest complaint reminding the Security Council of the declared intention of the so-called Revolutionary Front (the coalition of the rebel forces JEM, SPLA, and the two SLM factions) to use military force to "overthrow the government," a recipe for further destabilization of the region. The Security Council, following through with the UN secretary general's condemnation of the coalition, must now take concrete measures to prevent this alliance from using Southern Sudan as a base of its operations.
Embassy of Sudan Press and Information Office, phone: +1-202-338-8565, or fax: +1-202-667-2406
SOURCE Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan
