Sudan Military troops redeployed

30 October 2007 – (Nairobi, Kenya) – All SPLA forces are south of the January 1st, 1956 border. This statement from the chairman of the Southern Sudan Peace Commission and the newly-appointed Minister of Humanitarian Affairs in the Government of National Unity, Mr. James Kok.

In an exclusive interview with Sudan Radio Service last week in Nairobi, Mr. Kok said that other than those attached to Joint Integrated Units, no SPLA soldier remains north of the 1956 border, in accordance with the CPA. Mr. Kok was responding to allegations leveled by National Congress Party Deputy Nafie Ali Nafie on October 11th that only 6% of SPLA soldiers had withdrawn from the north.

[James Kok]: “The SPLA soldiers have moved from all the areas that they are not supposed to be, and they were brought to the south of the 1956 border. And if you need witnesses, they can go and witness. And the SAF has withdrawn from some parts of the areas in the south but not all the areas. According to the CPA, they were supposed to be out since the 9th of January 2007. They are still in Unity state, Upper Nile state and Western Bahr el Ghazal state and this is against the CPA.”

He said that the SAF are concentrated in the oil-rich areas, where only Joint Integrated Units are supposed to operate.

Section three of the security arrangements protocol of the CPA says that other than those in the JIU’s, all SAF troops were to be redeployed north of the 1956 border and SPLA troops south of that border as of January 2007.

In other news, Mr. Kok denied rumors that the SPLM is behind the decision by some of Darfur’s anti-government groups not to attend the peace talks in Libya. He says the SPLM’s goal in the Darfur peace talks was to unite the anti-government groups so that they would all participate and speak with one voice, saying “a home that is divided cannot succeed.” He said that in the workshops with the anti-government groups in Juba, the SPLM encouraged the groups to attend the peace talks in Libya.

[James Kok]: “I have gone to France twice to persuade Abdul Wahid al-Nur to come and join his brothers so that they can agree with one voice to attend the peace talks and bring peace to Darfur. Then how can we at the same time tell them not to attend, unless it is the enemies of SPLA speaking like that?”

Abdul Wahid al-Nur is the leader of the largest Sudan Liberation Movement faction that has refused to attend the talks in Libya.

Mr. Kok added that although the SPLM has recalled its senior officials from the Government of National Unity, it is still “working hard” to see that there is peace in the whole of Sudan, including Darfur.