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Five reasons to care about the Sudan - South Sudan conflict

4. Regional war

  • By Scott Baldauf Staff Writer

Fighting between South Sudan and Sudan could easily spread throughout the region, drawing in each country’s allies. Sudan’s president has already used the j-word, describing its fight against non-Muslim South Sudan as a “jihad” or holy struggle, in what could be an appeal for volunteer fighters from other Muslim countries to fight alongside Sudan’s military forces in a defense of the faith.

South Sudan, too, has received indications that it might have some active allies. Ugandan Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, the chief of defense forces, told the Kampala newspaper Daily Monitor that Uganda would fight alongside South Sudan if Khartoum’s troops invade and press on toward Juba.

"We will not sit by and do nothing,” Gen. Nyakairima told the Daily Monitor. “We will be involved having suffered a proxy war by Khartoum. Sudan once supported rebels against the Ugandan government, including the Lord’s Resistance Army, Gen. Nyakairima added. "Our people in northern Uganda suffered and intelligence information also indicates that the LRA, who have an estimated 200 guns, are again in contact with Khartoum."

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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