KHARTOUM: Authorities in south Sudan said on Tuesday they had arrested men loyal to George Athor, a former southern rebel commander suspected of being aided by elements in Khartoum seeking to destabilize the autonomous region.
"The (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) and the government of southern Sudan have in its custody elements of George Athor, the group that rebels against the government of southern Sudan," said Pagan Amum, secretary general of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.
Amum said a helicopter had departed from Khartoum on Sunday heading for the southern state of Jonglei, considered to be Athor’s stronghold, but had landed in neighboring Upper Nile state, where it was captured.
"This is very serious development because it indicates clearly the involvement of certain quarters in Khartoum in supporting elements that are causing the destabilization of southern Sudan and disturbing the peace in southern Sudan and also obstructing the implementation of the CPA, particularly the referendum on self-determination" due in January, he said.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended two decades of civil war in 2005 and provided, among other things, for a referendum in the south.
Athor, a senior southern officer, led a rebellion after losing the gubernatorial race in Jonglei during the country’s April elections, accusing the south Sudan authorities of corruption.
