Khartoum complains over South ‘aggression’

KHARTOUM, Sunday

Khartoum has complained to the UN Security Council over alleged “aggression” by South Sudan, ahead of talks between the two sides which came to the brink of all-out war in April.

The complaint filed by Sudan’s UN ambassador, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, accused South Sudan of cross-border incursions over the past eight days.

This, it has said, is violating a May 2 Security Council resolution that called on both sides to cease hostilities and resume negotiations, the official Suna news agency reported late Saturday.

Talks are planned for Tuesday in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

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Osman called on the Security Council “to take necessary action against the serious violations” of the UN resolution “and to compel the South Sudan state to cease immediately its aggression against Sudan territories.”

He alleged Southern forces attacked Kafia Kingi, Samaha and Siri Malaga in southern Darfur from Tuesday to Thursday.

Sudan’s military announced more than two weeks ago that it had expelled South Sudanese troops and their alleged rebel allies from Kafia Kingi and a second area, both of which the foreign ministry has previously described as disputed border territory.

The complaint called on the Security Council to compel South Sudan to end support for rebels in Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states as well as in southern Darfur.