Atta indicated that some of the rebel leaders are in Juba and Yei in Central Equatoria and in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal states.

As he was speaking at the graduation ceremony NISS officers outside the capital Khartoum, Atta asked: "What is the rebel Ahmed Bakhit doing in Yei? And what does a mobile unit of [the rebel] Justice and Equality [Movement] moving to Northern Bahr el Ghazal want? What do they want to hand over there and receive from there?"

Southern Sudan authorities have already accused Khartoum of supporting General Athor who mutinied in Jonglei sate after April elections.

Southern Sudan government had seized on August 8 a helicopter in Fulug county airport in the Upper Nile State and accused the Sudanese army of shipping weapons and ammunition to the rebel general to derail the referendum process.

Sudan has recently accused Uganda of supporting JEM rebels who clashed last week with the Sudanese army in different parts of Darfur and Kordofan.

Tensions between North and South Sudan border region of Abyei might be the cause of a new regional conflict that would destabilize the whole region.

Leaders in North Sudan have said it is now impossible to hold a referendum on the future of an oil-rich region along the country's north-south border while southern Sudanese politicians have insisted that the vote must go ahead.

The vote on Abyei region is scheduled to take place at the same time as the referendum on southern independence. Abyei residents would decide whether to remain in the north or join the south.

It was part of the 2005 deal that had ended Africa’s longest civil war that killed about two million people and displaced another four million.