The SPLA has denied the repeated accusations by the Sudanese government that it is supporting rebels in the Darfur region.

The spokesman of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Al-Sawrami Khalid Sa-ad said yesterday that South Sudan is harboring the rebels.

He said a foreign military expert trained fighters of the Justice and Equality Movement for several months in Raja in Western Bahr el-Ghazal State earlier this year.

The accusation comes after reports of fighting between the Sudanese army and the rebels in the Darfur region.

“That accusation is just rubbish,” Col Philip Aguer, SPLA spokesman told Eye Radio.

“Sudan has been accusing us of helping Darfur rebels, which is nonsense and it is their attempt to justify their support for Riek Machar and the rest of the rebels that have been destabilizing South Sudan.”

The two sides have been trading such accusations since 2011.