South Sudan denies asking Sudan to close opposition party offices
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E-mail Xinhua, December 8, 2016
South Sudan on Thursday denied reports that it had asked the Sudanese government to close offices of the opposition party SPLM-IO led by ousted First Vice President Riek Machar.
Mawien Makol Arik, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Xinhua that the government asked Khartoum to cease helping South Sudanese opposition groups from using Sudanese territory to wage war against Juba, but not to close the party's offices.
"We haven't asked Khartoum to close any rebel offices in their territory but we asked Sudan to refrain from supporting opposing members of the government of South Sudan to create an environment that will help us implement the cooperation agreement," Arik said.
Arik said South Sudan was committed to implementing agreements signed with Sudan, adding that members of a joint border committee from both countries recently met in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to fast-track the process of addressing boundary disputes.
He urged the Sudanese government to desist from making contradictory statements that may hamper efforts to restore full ties between the two neighbors and to give more time for the implementation of the signed deal.
Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir in October gave South Sudan until the end of 2016 to implement the cooperation agreement signed between the two countries in 2012.
The joint cooperation agreement provides mechanisms for oil and trade, security, border demarcation as well as status of citizens.
South Sudan accuses Khartoum of supporting opposition forces loyal to Machar while Khartoum accuses Juba of hosting and supporting armed groups fighting against the Sudanese government in Kordofan and Blue Nile regions. Endit
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