Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Sudan ‘At War’ With Neighbor, Says Ruling Party Official
voanews.com ^ | April 16, 2012 | Peter Clottey

Posted on 04/16/2012 7:42:35 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

A prominent member of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) says the country is officially in a state of war with South Sudan.

Rabie Abdelati Obeid condemned as unacceptable the “illegal invasion” of its territory after forces from South Sudan seized the key disputed oil town of Heglig. Obeid’s comments came after Sudan’s parliament unanimously voted to declare South Sudan an “enemy.”

He said the people of the Republic of Sudan assign the same status to South Sudan’s ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

“They are now angry,” he said, “since the invasion of Heglig…,” where “the Sudanese Armed Forces are now chasing the remaining rebels … from corner to corner.”

He says the government should take as tough a stance toward Juba as has Sudan’s national assembly.

Obeid said the country’s southern neighbor continues to foment trouble by refusing to withdraw from the disputed border town it seized.

“Their language is a language of war,” said Obeid.

“How can we talk to those people in the language of peace, when they are against peace and stability? And they have now intentionally invaded an area which doesn’t belong to them.”

Violence has escalated along Sudan and South Sudan's border despite the United Nations Security Council’s concerns about increasing conflict between the two neighbors.

Obeid said South Sudan has failed to abide by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which effectively ended decades of war between the north and south.

“They are not respecting the CPA, and they don’t understand [it]. Their mind is actually oriented to war…and their culture is completely, different from a culture of peace,” said Obeid.

“There is no way now for talks unless we clean them out of the [Heglig] region...They started war; they invaded our area, and they distracted our localities. There is no way for any diplomacy.”

South Sudan said it will only withdraw from the oil town if the United Nations intervenes.

The African Union, which was helping mediate talks between the two neighboring countries, condemned south Sudan’s occupation of the town.

Obeid denied accusations that Sudan’s army uses Heglig as a base to launch attacks on unarmed civilians.

“If we want to do so, we should not have [allowed them to have] self-determination and the referendum,” he said, in reference to the ballot last year in which mostly Christian and black southerners voted to separate from the predominantly Arab and Muslim Republic of Sudan.

“Now we have clear evidence that they violated the peace, they violated the CPA, they invaded our area, they have committed a lot of mistakes and atrocities [and] they have caused a state of instability and insecurity. [Theirs is] is the behavior of rebels, not …of a government.”


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: africa; darfur; islamofascists; southsudan; sudan

1 posted on 04/16/2012 7:42:44 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe; Travis McGee

Well, I guess that didn’t take long. We should have known it’d be a matter of months before South Sudan would be re-invaded.


2 posted on 04/16/2012 7:46:54 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe

Gee, how long is it going to take the “Pretender” in Chief to have our troops involved in this?


3 posted on 04/16/2012 7:50:51 PM PDT by Shadowstrike (Be polite, Be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tailgunner Joe
Conflicts are the bitterest when the stakes are so low.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

4 posted on 04/16/2012 7:54:49 PM PDT by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LonePalm

Come on guys! The real question :Who cares?


5 posted on 04/16/2012 8:17:32 PM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks Tailgunner Joe.
...is officially in a state of war with South Sudan.
This is a big change from the twenty years of the state of war it used to be in against its then-citizens. Islamofascists ping.


6 posted on 04/16/2012 9:09:47 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)

A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)

7 posted on 04/16/2012 9:13:28 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: DIRTYSECRET

I care. South Sudan is the Christian nation and Sudan is muslim.


8 posted on 04/16/2012 10:04:42 PM PDT by married21 (As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv
Operating out there seems to me to be its own punishment.

That's not the most desirable bit of real estate on the planet.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

9 posted on 04/17/2012 7:06:13 AM PDT by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: married21
South Sudan is the Christian nation and Sudan is muslim.

When South Sudan became independent, they took much of Sudan's oil deposits with them. Sudan has control of the oil pipeline and is charging them quite a bit for access to port facilities to export the oil, but over time that can be fixed by a pipeline through Kenya.

10 posted on 04/17/2012 11:20:29 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. - George Orwell)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: PapaBear3625

I remember reading about this, sort of. Thanks for giving your succinct summary.


11 posted on 04/17/2012 8:33:23 PM PDT by married21 (As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson