US warns South Sudan on support to SPLM-N

Khartoum
November 21, 2011 (Sudan Tribune)

South Sudan must cease any support it provides to Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) that is currently engaged in fighting with Khartoum in the border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, the United States said today.

The message was delivered to the South Sudan government during a visit by the White House Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough to Juba and Khartoum that started last week.

The US special envoy to Sudan, Princeton Lyman and the interim US Chargé d’Affaires in Khartoum Mary C. Yates’ also participated in the meetings that took place.

“In Juba, Mr. McDonough and Special Envoy Lyman addressed these same crises and the need to respect the sovereignty of Sudan, including by ending support for the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile,” said a statement released by the National Security Council spokesman, Tommy Vietor.

Both states border the newly independent state of South Sudan and their population largely fought alongside the south during Sudan’s north-south second civil war 1983-2005.

"They reiterated the United States’ deep concern over continuing fighting in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile and the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by the fighting, which is exacerbated by the Government of Sudan’s blocking of international humanitarian assistance to the civilian population," Vietor said.

The statement out of Washington will likely provide a moral boost to Khartoum which has lodged two complaints this year with the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) claiming that Juba is aiding SPLM-N fighters.

Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir threatened that his country is running out of patience is prepared to go to war over South Sudan’s support to SPLM-N.

Sudan also accused the US of coordinating with the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) to condemn Khartoum in the UNSC. This came after United Nations said this month that Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) bombed a refugee camp inside South Sudan.

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