KHARTOUM

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday accused South Sudan of supporting and harboring Sudanese rebel groups.

“Sudanese rebels are there [in South Sudan], where they receive military support and weapons,” al-Bashir told supporters in the city of Kosti south of Khartoum, according to state television.

Nevertheless, he said, Sudan would continue to welcome refugees from its southern neighbor.

“We will not change our policy [of accepting South Sudanese refugees] … and will spare no effort to achieve peace in South Sudan,” al-Bashir said.

South Sudanese leaders, he went on to assert, “have misled their people by creating a rich state in the south… but now they are suffering war and displacement”.

South Sudan became a sovereign nation in 2011 after seceding from Sudan following a popular referendum.

Two years later, however, civil war erupted in the fledgling state between government and opposition forces.

Despite a peace deal signed in 2015, the ongoing war has left thousands dead and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Many South Sudanese have since fled to Sudan in hopes of escaping the violence and the country’s dire humanitarian situation.