KHARTOUM, Sudan -- In a move to 'safeguard national unity,' the Sudanese army crushed a foreign-backed mutiny by soldiers in the country's troubled southern region, the army command said.
'The operation was decisive and successful and government troops captured a large amount of arms, ammunition and explosives, stockpiled in Bor,' about 100 miles north of Juba, capital of the southern region, the army said Wednesday.
Government troops moved Sunday and Monday against the mutinous company of the 1st Division's 105th Batallion in the towns of Bor and Pibor in Jonglei Province, about 600 miles south of Khartoum, the statement said.
Without naming any countries, the command said the cache was 'brought in from abroad,' and the mutiny was part of a major conspiracy by 'a foreign power.'
President Jaafar Numeiry in the past has accused Libya of seeking to undermine his pro-Western government by sowing discord in the autonomous southern region.
The rebels were making foreign contacts, 'which the authorities had monitored with patience and tolerance but the situation escalated in recent weeks into rebellion and disobedience,' the statement said.
'In view of this situation, a decisive measure had to be taken to safeguard national unity as well as the discipline and prestige of the armed forces,' the statement said.
The authorities have opened an investigation that would 'unveil many facts about the nature of the mutiny,' the statement said.
Government forces were reported to be in control of the area, the populace was safe and life was returning to normal. There was no mention of casualties on either side.
The south, peopled mainly by Christian blacks, fought a 17-year-long civil war against the predominantly Arab north. The war ended in 1972 with the signing of the Addis Ababa agreement that provided autonomy for the south.
But a recent government plan to divide the south into provinces has faced opposition from many southerners, who fear the move would erode their autonomous powers.
