Sudanese rebel groups expressed surprise and regret at the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon's condemnation of the formation of a rebel alliance - the Sudanese Revolutionary Force - on the 11th November.
On Monday, Ban Ki Moon expressed concern at the growing tension between Khartoum and Juba, and argued that the establishment of the rebel alliance would only serve to further escalate the conflict in the region.
The groups, hailing from the Blue Nile, Darfur and South Kordofan regions, situated along the border between Sudan and South Sudan, and include Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Sudan Liberation Movement factions of Abdel Wahid Al-Nur (SLM-AW) and Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) and the SPLM-N (Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North).
Yasir Arman, the Secretary General of SPLM-N and the former presidential candidate of the SPLM last year, said he was "surprised" at Ban Ki Moon's statement and argued that it showed that Ban Ki Moon was supporting "the aggressors and war criminals" instead of "supporting the victims and the right of the Sudanese people to democracy and the respect for human rights and the rule of law".
The rebel groups asserted that the solution to the conflict, lay in a political and armed struggle to overthrow the government in Khartoum.
Act for Sudan, a US based advocacy group consisting of human rights activists, Sudanese diaspora and a representative of Sudanese rebels, urged , urged the UN to condemn the Sudanese government's repression of the people.
Martina Knee, a spokesperson of Act for Sudan, said:
"In condemning the new rebel alliance and calling for more fruitless talks, Secretary General Ban and the United Nations fail to acknowledge [both] that the government is the primary aggressor in Sudan’s internal conflicts."
Meanwhile the UN has maintained its focus on urging both sides towards negotiations.
Addressing the Security Council on Tuesday, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, commented on the criticism of Ban Ki Moon's statement,
"This represents a step further in a pattern of escalation that is counter-productive. The United Nations continues to stress that all parties to the different conflicts between the Government of Sudan and its peripheries need to return to the table of negotiations and resolve their differences through political dialogue."
