Weapons drop hangs over Sudan talks

Peace summit hits third day as Southern army claims north has airdropped weapons to a militia seeking to undermine the South's government.

Sudan People's Liberation Army soldiers Chol Lang, 24, Bieth Keer, 22, and Majok Deng, 28, who were injured in a rebel ambush, rest inside a ward at a military hospital in Juba.

JUBA // The third day of peace talks between the presidents of the two Sudans' continued yesterday amid claims that the north had airdropped weapons to a militia seeking to undermine the South's government.

Philip Aguer, spokesman for the Southern army (SPLA), said the packages contained weapons and ammunition supplied by Sudan to an anti-government militia led by David Yau Yau.

Mr Aguer said his troops had fought the militia that day, killing one member, after two days of attacks on SPLA posts in two other villages in the region.

"They were using rocket launchers and machineguns," he said.

Relations between the countries has been strained since the South declared independence in July last year, acquiring three-quarters of the formerly united country's oil reserves.

Talks have since failed to resolve disputes including the location of the border, and how much the landlocked South should pay to use pipelines and processing facilities in Sudan.

The airdrop last Saturday took place on the deadline imposed by the UN to conclude the sensitive negotiations.

It was the first such delivery to be confirmed by independent observers - UN peacekeepers who were stationed in a remote village in Jonglei state.

"There was a white fixed-wing aircraft that was observed by Unmiss troops dropping packages," said Kouider Zerrouk, spokesman for the UN Mission in South Sudan.

Mr Zerrouk was careful to add the UN could not confirm the contents of the seven or eight packages, or who dropped them.

Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) spokesman Al Sawarmi Khalid could not be reached for comment but his government has repeatedly denied supporting anti-government militias in the South.

But both countries have accused each other of supporting rebels on either side of the border.

The location and timing of the airdrop and fighting could signal a split between hawks in the SAF who resent the loss of the South and are opposed to a peace deal, and more conciliatory members of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

"There are several possibilities that might explain why the drop occurred within sight of the SPLA and Unmiss," said Jonah Leff, an analyst with the Small Arms Survey in Geneva.

"It is difficult to ignore that the airdrop occurred right at the close of peace talks in Addis. We have seen repeated attempts on the part of SAF to derail prior peace talks."

But there is also some evidence that the government's failure to bring peace between warring tribes in Jonglei may be contributing to the uprising led by Mr Yau Yau, a member of the Murle tribe.

The eastern state has been plagued by ethnic violence that killed more than 1,000 people last year, the UN says.

In late December, about 8,000 members of the Lou Nuer tribe attacked communities in Pibor County, the traditional homeland of the Murle, a relatively small tribal minority.

About 900 people, mostly Murle, were killed in attacks and counter-attacks between December and February, the UN said.

After the violence, the government began a campaign to disarm the civilian population.

But the programme has been criticised by groups including Human Rights Watch and the UN mission, both of which said government soldiers and police had committed abuses against civilians.

Amnesty International said on Saturday that between August 27 and September 5, researchers in Pibor County documented army abuses including assaults, sexual violence against women, looting and shooting of civilians.

Mr Aguer said the army was investigating such claims.

"In Pibor we have nine cases of rape and the soldiers were arrested and are under investigation," he said. "Some are already sentenced and are in jail."

But in Juba on August 26, Mr Aguer admitted some Murle youth who were unhappy with the disarmament campaign had joined Mr Yau Yau's militia in an attack that killed at least 24 South Sudanese soldiers three days earlier.

Mr Yau Yau has also launched a propaganda war, airing anti-government messages on short-wave radio in English, Arabic and tribal languages.

The Murle language broadcasts specifically mentioned abuses against civilians by soldiers involved in the disarmament campaign, including the rape of Murle women.

Mr Aguer said the broadcasts came from military headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, where Mr Yau Yau is thought to be living.

Regardless of Sudan's involvement, and whatever the outcome of the peace talks between the two presidents, the rebellion in Jonglei shows South Sudan's problems cannot be laid solely on the doorstep of its northern neighbour.