Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir on Monday admonished south Sudan for giving sanctuary to Darfur rebels, one day before his visit to the south’s capital Juba as the semi-autonomous region stands poised to gain full independence in a vote set to take place on Sunday.
Al-Bashir is expected to land in Juba on Tuesday in order to deliver a public speech and hold talks with south Sudan President Salva Kiir. Al-Bashir visit comes as nearly four million Southern Sudanese are expected to turn up on Sunday to vote for secession from the north.
The plebiscite is a key plank of the 2005’s peace deal that ended nearly half a century of intermittent civil war between the north and the south.
While addressing celebrations of a drill staged by Sudan Air Forces in Al-Aruus area in Port Sudan on Monday, Al-Bashir reminded south Sudan government that Darfur region was still part of Sudan and its rebels were considered “outlaws.”
Darfur is a region of western Sudan where an eight-year conflict between rebels belonging mostly to African ethnicities and the central government in Khartoum claimed the lives of 300,000 people and displaced more than 2 million, according to UN figures.
Al-Bashir said that Darfur region was experiencing “peace and stability” after it had been “cleaned and secured” from rebel forces. But the Sudanese president took the opportunity to send a message to south Sudan and Darfur rebels there.
“We tell our brothers in the south that they [Darfur rebels] are outlawed fighters and we are in a state with the same law, and the dealing with them is the same dealing with outlaws. If they wanted peace, they are welcome, and if they refuse, they will regret,” Al-Bashir warned.
South Sudan is currently housing Mani Arkoi Minawi, who is the only Darfur rebel leader to sign a peace accord with the Sudanese government in Abuja in 2006. But Minawi later defected from the government and accused Khartoum of stalling the peace agreement.
The Sudanese government is currently engaged in peace talks in the Qatari capital Doha with the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), an alliance of minor Darfur rebel factions.
The LJM on Monday announced it had finalized peace negotiations with the government and was now ready to sign a peace agreement.
But the talks have so far failed to fully engage the two main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdul Wahid Nur.
The drills in eastern Sudan saw the successful testing of a Sudanese unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, hailing the occasion, Al-Bashir said the peace that is “not protected by arms is fragile and prone to loss.”
Sudan spends heavily on defense and military. Official records show that in 2009-2010, Sudan’s total expenditure on defense, policing and military stood at 5.770.002.332 (over 2 billion US dollars).
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