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UN chief calls for immediate de-escalation of Sudan, South Sudan conflict

12 April 2012 02:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here Wednesday that top priority is to de-escalate the fighting between Sudan and Sought Sudan so as to avoid further blood-shed.

Ban made the remarks when he spoke to the President of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit over phone.

"Before undertaking a discussion on the causes of escalation, the immediate priority is to de-escalate the situation to avoid any further blood-shed," said the UN chief according to a statement released by his spokesperson.

Ban suggested holding a presidential summit immediately to build confidence and assure the peoples of South Sudan and Sudan that peace and dialogue is the only option before both sides, the statement said.

Ban spoke to the Sudanese Permanent Representative to the UN, Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, in New York on Tuesday evening and strongly urged Khartoum to exercise maximum restraint and avoid further military action, according to the statement.

Also on Wednesday, the Security Council expressed deep concerns on the situation in their close-door consultations.

The 15-member council stressed that the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), a force of South Sudan, must withdraw immediately, and Sudan must stop aerial bombardments and incursions into South Sudan, said U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN Susan Rice, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the month.

"Both sides must return to talks and cease all hostilities," she told reporters outside the Security Council chamber after consultations.

Osman addressed reporters outside the chamber later on Wednesday afternoon and said that the north has exercised "maximum self-restraint" despite the actions of the armed forces of South Sudan, but retains the right to exercise self-defense.

He added that Khartoum does not seek to "escalate" the violence that he said was started by the south, as such a move is "not going to serve the interests of either country and it will jeopardize the peace and stability in both countries."

Concern has been growing over reports of clashes along the two countries’ shared border, with the Security Council recently warning that the fighting could reignite conflict between the two nations.

The spokesperson for the UN secretary-general also followed up on the conflict, releasing a statement on Wednesday that expressed Ban’s alarm over the fighting between Sudan and South Sudan.

"He calls on both parties immediately to cease hostilities, remove their forces from each others’ territory and avoid further bloodshed," said the statement. "He underlines the necessity that both Governments respect the territorial integrity of the other and ensure their own territories are not used to provide support for rebel groups."

Ban again encouraged the leaders of the two nations to meet as soon as possible to "defuse tensions" and "resolve all issues through peaceful dialogue," the statement added.

In March, the Security Council urged the two governments to exercise restraint and to peacefully address the issues that have fueled mistrust between them, including differences over oil, violence in the border region, citizenship and Abyei.

Sudan and South Sudan have been in talks aimed at resolving outstanding post-independence issues, but mistrust has persisted. South Sudan became independent from Sudan in July last year, six years after the signing of the peace agreement that ended decades of warfare between the north and the south. Sudan has reportedly said it is withdrawing from the talks, and has complained to the UN and the African Union over what it described as South Sudan’s " aggression."