South Sudan denies backing TPLF rebels

South Sudan has denied allegations that it is supporting the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) fighting the Ethiopian government.

Addressing the media last Friday, Michael Makuei, Minister of Information who doubles as Government Spokesperson said the government of South Sudan has no ill intention to work against the Ethiopian government.

He said the Federal Republic of Ethiopia had contributed during the struggle that resulted in South Sudan’s independence.

“The people and the government of Ethiopia all these years have been standing with us and without the Ethiopians and the government, we would have not been independent today. So there is no way whereby we can say we are supporting the rebels to overthrow the system in Ethiopia,” Makuei said.

“Not only that but even if what are our resources if we are unable even to graduate our forces now because of the absence of arms, should we give arms to the rebels and leave our forces,” he asked.

He described the allegations as “baseless and unfounded,” and said the government detaches itself from all such allegations.

“This we have to make it very clear and assure the government of Ethiopia that we are with them, that we are with the government and the people of Ethiopia and we will never work against them in any way.”

Makuei claimed that there are mighty be some individuals who sell arms to the rebels in Ethiopia in possession of their private firearms and warned that it will be at their risk.

“If the Ethiopian government can get hold of such people then they should be brought to books. But for us on our side, we assure the Ethiopian government that we don’t have such ill tenderness against the Ethiopian government.”

In October during the inauguration of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, President Salva Kiir pledged support for the unity and stability of Ethiopia.

“I came here in August for a one-day visit, and I said that we want Ethiopia, which is our great mother. Being a South Sudanese without Ethiopia would have not been what we are today.

“We don’t want our great mother, Ethiopia, to have the challenge we had in South Sudan… we will go wherever you go with you.”

Also, in August 2021, Kiir offered to mediate the ongoing conflict between the government in neighbouring Ethiopia and Tigray rebels.

The August 26 Kiir visited  Ethiopia after he was requested by Abdalla Hamdok, the prime minister of Sudan who doubles as the chair of the East African Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) bloc.

Hamdok asked Kiir to go to Ethiopia as he was seen as the right person to mediate the Ethiopian conflict.  However, the warring parties seem to be unwilling to offer to address the conflict through dialogue as they continued to fight each other.

Last month, several media reported that Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister Abiy Ahmed has gone to the battlefront after the leader said martyrdom might be necessary for the yearlong war with rival fighters approaching the capital.

However, since Abiy joined the frontline, the government forces have gained control of several of the rebels’ controlled areas. Ten of thousands of people have died in the war between Ethiopian federal and allied troops and fighters from the country’s Tigray region.