Aguer said the rebels are based in Sudanese territory. "They have no base in Unity state," he said, a reference to the state where the fighting is taking place.
For its part, the government in Khartoum accuses South Sudan of supporting rebellions on its side of the new border, in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile. There, the recently renamed Sudan People's Liberation Army-North — former members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army who found themselves on the Sudan side of the new border in July — are battling Sudan government troops.
The South Sudanese army says it has cut off ties to those groups, but SPLA-North officials use Juba as a base, and SPLA-North officials privately admit that they receive assistance from sympathetic elements in the South Sudan government and military.
On Thursday, the Sudanese armed forces captured the rebel headquarters of Kurmuk in Blue Nile state. In South Kordofan, the rebels control much of the Nuba Mountains.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the rebel groups north of the new border complain that the U.N. is working with Sudanese government forces. Last month, the Sudan People's Liberation Army-North accused the U.N. of flying the governor of South Kordofan state to Taludi, a town besieged by the SPLA-North forces.
(Boswell is a McClatchy special correspondent.)
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