SPLM accuses NCP of plot and suspends negotiations
Speaking to journalists at Juba International Airport after his arrival from Khartoum on Sunday morning, 13 March 2011, Pagan Amum Okech, the secretary general of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), accused the National Congress Party (NCP) of supporting, training and arming militia groups to destabilise Southern Sudan.
Read also "Instability rising with new clashes in Malakal" by Boboya Simon Wudu and "Pagan, don't panic" by StillSUDAN
The accusations of the South's ruling party against the dominant party of the national government followed renewed clashes in Malakal on Saturday, but were dismissed by authorities in the North.
The town is the capital of the oil-producing Upper Nile State. Amum himself hails from Malakal.
Onyoti Adigo Nyikwec
Among the groups allegedly supported by the North is Dr. Lam Akol's Sudan People's Liberation Movement for Democratic Change (SPLM-DC), one of the major opposition parties in the South. The SPLM-DC Chairperson of the opposition members of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly (SSLA), Onyoti Adigo Nyikwec, however insists that the SPLM-DC is a political party only and has no armed militia group.
The suspension of talks and the violent clashes in Abyei, Jonglei State and Upper Nile State raise fears ahead of South Sudan's independence on 9 July 2011. Southerners have overwhelmingly opted for secession in January's referendum. Pascal Ladu reports from Juba:
