Photo: WEF

The African Union High-Level Implementation Panel led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki says Sudan and South Sudan negotiators agreed to remain in the current round of talks in order to meet an August 2 deadline set by the United Nations.

Khartoum — The rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) vigorously denied launching a ground attack on South Darfur state from South Sudan, pointing out that such "false accusations" aim to cover up fresh air strikes carried out in Northern Bhar el-Gahzal.

Juba filed on Saturday a complaint to the African Union Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council accusing Khartoum of bombarding three locations in Northern Bhar el-Gahzal which borders South Darfur state.

Khartoum dismissed the accusations saying that the Sudanese army dealt with a convoy of 105 arms-laden vehicles belonging to JEM when it crossed into Sudanese territories on the way from South Sudan. It further accused Juba of violating the provisions of the UNSC resolution on cessation of support to rebels.

"The accusations directed against JEM aim to cover up the aerial bombardment carried by the Sudanese army on the South Sudanese territory in violation of a UN resolution", said JEM secretary for foreign affairs, Ahmed Hussein Adam in a statement to Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

Ahmed further stressed that Sudan's defence minister and head of its negotiating team Abdel-Rahim Hussein "should be held accountable of this aggression".

Omer Dahab, the spokesperson of Sudanese delegation in Addis Ababa, said they were monitoring the rebels inside the South Sudan and had informed the mediation and the head of South Sudanese delegation, Pagan Amum, about the movement of JEM fighters towards Darfur from South Sudan.

JEM foreign secretary said his group had the opportunity to express its support to the UN resolution on the Sudan and South Sudan dispute and committed itself to not hamper the international efforts on this respect.

"JEM, even if it is not directly concerned by the UN resolution 2046, is committed to this decision, and we have expressed this position to the international community at different times," he emphasised.

The rebel official went further to say that Sudanese government used to carry out air and ground attacks during the talks to strengthen its position.

"Actually they never seek seriously a genuine political solution," he added.

JEM, refuses to sign the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) that Khartoum and the Liberation and Justice Movement inked in July 2011. The rebel group which was part of the Doha process proposed to consider the DDOPD as basis for talks and submitted a series of propositions to amend it.

In November 2011, the holdout movement established the Sudan Revolutionary Front, a rebel alliance with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North and two factions of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid al-nur and Minni Miinawi.

The rebel alliance refuses separate talks on regional issues but proposes a comprehensive process to discuss the resolution of all the problems of governance in democracy in Sudan. The rebels also established a unified command for their joint military action in order to topple Khartoum government.

Sudan accuses South Sudan of using these groups to strengthen its position at the negotiating table over the pending issues, but Juba denies these accusations and accuses Khartoum of supporting South Sudanese rebels.