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| South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayadrit |
South
Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayadrit brushed aside calls to withdraw his army
from the oil-rich region of Heglig after being asked to do so in order to avoid
a return of war with the north.
Kiir was reacting to international
calls from the African Union (AU), United Nations (UN) and United States and
Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General also called him on Wednesday requesting the
same.
In a remarkable shift from his “no
return to war” previous stances, Kiir told the members of South Sudan
parliament he would not order a withdrawal.
Kiir said that this message was
delivered to all world leaders who contacted him including UN chief whom he
said gave him "an order".
"I told him you do not need to order
me because I am not under your command. I am a head of state accountable to my
people and do not have to be ordered by someone I do not fall under his direct
command. I will not withdraw the troops,” he said
Kiir argued to Ban that the
international community does not equally give same concern when Khartoum
assaults them and gave an example when the Sudanese army moved into Abyei it in
May 2010.
The South Sudan leader said he told
Ban that if Khartoum does not pull out its army from Abyei he would send his
troops to fight them.
He went on to recount events that led
to Heglig’s occupation.
“I want to tell you clearly what
happened at border. I think you all know that a summit was supposed to be held
here in Juba on 3 April, 2012 but this did not take place because there were
voices in Khartoum who felt the South Sudan was not secure. I told them no.
South Sudan was more secure than any other country in the world for president
Bashir”, Kiir said.
He explained that he rejected
international pressure calling upon him at the time to arrest Bashir if he
comes to South Sudan because he could not see any logic to do so.
“I asked them why and they said
because he is wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes, crimes
against humanity and genocide in Darfur for killing of 300,000 people. I told
them why would I arrest Bashir for 300,000 people killed in Darfur while the
international community did not bother to indict him for crimes he committed in
the South where he killed over 2 million people”, Kiir told the house.
He said the conflict in Heglig began
when Sudan Armed forces collaboratively with militia forces launched an attack
on April 1st with the intention to extend tie-in pipe line to Unity state but
that they were repulsed by the SPLA forces and were followed into Heglig.
“They went back to regroup and
launched another attack on April 10th. They were again repulsed and followed
into Heglig and the SPLA took control of the town. The SPLA are now in a
complete control of the Heglig and beyond. They will not pull out. They will
remain there so that this issue is resolve once and for all even though we did
not want war as a resolve”, Kiir told the house amid applause chanting
"SPLA, SPLA, SPLA".
He said he did not sleep last night
because he was receiving a lot of international calls asking him to consider
withdrawing troops from the contested area but rejected them.
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