South Sudan denies approving land for Egyptian military

JUBA – South Sudan foreign ministry on Wednesday denied reports that it had approved a request by the Egyptian government for a military base in a eastern town along the Ethiopian border.

This comes after several media outlets reported that the government in Juba and the army have agreed to provide a piece of land in Pagak, a town bordering Ethiopia in the far east South Sudan, to house 250 Egyptian troops in an apparent preparation for war with Ethiopia.

The reports quoted unnamed defense and foreign ministries officials as saying the land would be used for developmental purposes.

In a statement on Wednesday however, the country’s foreign ministry said the reports were baseless and unfounded accusing “enemies of peace” of trying to stain relations between South Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt.

“No any agreement has been reached whatsoever to allocate a piece of land for Egyptian Military Base in the territory of the Republic of South Sudan. Both countries, Ethiopia and Egypt, are close friends of South Sudan,” the statement seen by Sudans Post partly reads.

“There is nothing of that kind. No any agreement has been reached whatsoever to allocate a piece of land for Egyptian Military Base in the territory of the Republic of South Sudan,” the statement indicates.

It further said the “spurious allegation and propaganda is waged by enemies of peace in the country so as to stain our relations with our neighboring countries and the entire region.”

Egypt and Ethiopia have been on a loggerhead on the terms of implementation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) which is being build along the Sudanese border.

Egypt has insisted that the dam will negatively impact its share of the Nile water.