It’s always about SPLM-N!

According to yesterday’s news, the British envoy to South Sudan has expressed concern that Sudan’s simmering border rebellions could yet unravel the freshly signed deal with South Sudan and jeopardise the expected resumption of the South's oil flows through Sudan.

Diplomats who brokered the deal had to overcome deep distrust between both sides - and Khartoum's repeated accusations that Juba was supplying weapons to rebels fighting in the Sudanese border states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

"A lot of (the deal) risks being undermined if Sudan believes that South Sudan is continuing to support what they see as their rebels," said Alastair McPhail, the British Ambassador to South Sudan.

"They don't have to be good friends; they just have to be good neighbours."

"If there is no agreement in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile there will always be tension because the border is so important at the moment," McPhail, who is leaving South Sudan later this month, told Reuters in an interview on Friday.

We share the British diplomat’s concern that the situation is extremely complex in the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, both of which were left to their own devices after failure to finalize procedures and tie loose ends during the interim period.

The government of Juba denies any association with the arms carriers in the two states, arguing that links with its one-time comrades in arms ended with its declaration of independence.

Rebels in the two states are Sudanese citizens, contends Juba and the rebellion is strictly a Sudanese affair. Khartoum, meanwhile insists that they are military brigades affiliated to SPLM; still under its command and still procuring arms and financing from the movement. This controversy will protract as each side keeps presenting arguments and counter-arguments. If the two sides continue to engage in this futile haggling, they will never reach a final peace.

The African mediation, tasked with helping the two countries reach peace, is required to probe a new approach for dealing with the situation through a broader vision that guarantees joint cooperation for resolving the crisis in the two states; seeking guidance from the provisions of the peace agreement even if means a supplementary agreement for implementing the remaining items of the peace agreement through joint cooperation.

In the above context, some features of the solution are to be found in the 2011 Nafie-Agar deal, later rejected by the central government in Khartoum.

These complications that surround the security file render the role of third party Mbeki and the regional and international organizations instrumental in this regard.

The coming days will reveal their ability to make a breakthrough; not only in activating previous agreements, but also in exploring new ways for addressing the security conditions for the purpose of guaranteeing peace and stability between the two countries.