Sudan: Southern ex-rebels acting like an independent state-President

(SomaliNet) The Southern ex-rebels, Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) are acting like an independent state, the Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir said.

The Sudanese leader told Al-Jazeera Arabic channel in Qatar said that the visit of his First Vice President Salva Kiir to the US was arranged through the SPLM\'s mission in Washington and not the Sudanese embassy.

\"The offices of SPLM abroad are still acting as they were embassies\" Al-Bashir said.

Sudan\'s First Vice-President and President of the Government of South Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit met last week with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington to discuss the progress of the CPA.

On October 11th the SPLM decided to suspend their participation in the national unity government because of what they describe as the NCP\'s failure to fully implement crucial elements of the CPA.

The latest move by the SPLM raised concern that the Comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) that ended two decades of civil war between the Arab and Muslim-dominated north and the mainly Christian and animist black southerners may unravel.
The Sudanese president said he was suspicious on the goals behind Kiir\'s visit to Washington.

\"Our brother Salva\'s visit to the United States was arranged through the movement\'s office in Washington, and not through the Sudanese embassy in Washington, where the ambassador is a member of the SPLM.

It is our right at the current circumstances to have suspicions about why he was invited and why he was invited in this way?\" Al-Bashir added.

The head of South Sudan mission in Washington Ezekiel Gatkuoth declined to comment on Al-Bashir statements and told Sudan Tribune that Kiir will respond shortly.

The war of words between the NCP and SPLM has escalated since the withdrawal of the latter\'s ministers from the government of national unity.

Kiir told the BBC Arabic service from Washington that he \"lost confidence in the National Congress Party (NCP) and president Al-Bashir\".

Yesterday the joint committee between the NCP and SPLM established to break the deadlock said that they will adjourn their meetings after failing to agree on a number of issues including the status of the oil rich region of Abyei and of the north-south border.

The 2005 peace agreement brokered by the US and other western countries ended two decades of civil war between the Arab and Muslim-dominated north and the mainly Christian and animist black southerners. –Sudan Tribune