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SUDAN-UNREST-POLITICS
Sudan generals, protest leaders, meet rebel chiefs in S.Sudan
JUBA, July 28, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sudanese generals and protest leaders, who
signed a power-sharing agreement, held preliminary talks with rebel groups in
neighbouring South Sudan Saturday as part of ongoing peace efforts.
The meeting followed an agreement on Thursday between protest leaders and
their rebel partners to end their differences over the accord signed with
Sudan’s military rulers earlier this month, vowing to work jointly for peace.
Arriving at the airport in the South Sudanese capital Juba earlier
Saturday, General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the deputy chief of Sudan’s ruling
military council, told reporters he hoped the meeting would “restore peace”
by focusing on “how we can implement the recent peace agreement we signed in
Khartoum”.
Among those at the meeting were rebel leaders Abdelaziz al-Hilu of South
Kordofan state and Malik Agar of Blue Nile state.
The umbrella protest movement on July 17 signed the power-sharing accord
with Sudan’s generals, which provides for a transitional civilian
administration following the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.
– ‘Restore peace in Sudan’ –
Daglo was accompanied by two other generals and two senior officials of the
Sudanese protest movement, military council and protest movement sources told
AFP.
After the meeting, rebel leader Agar spoke of “opening the humanitarian
corridors to the areas that are affected by war”, adding that the meeting had
been a “preliminary discussion that is leading to concrete decisions in
future… We have actually reached some understanding”.
Military council spokesman General Shamseddine Kabbashi added: “We had an
understanding on the release of all political detainees and prisoners of war
by all the parties that might have been detained by either party.”
The rebel groups spent years fighting government forces in the Darfur, Blue
Nile and South Kordofan regions of Sudan.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the three conflicts and
millions displaced, with hundreds of thousands still living in sprawling
camps.
The protest leaders and generals are still to sign a “Constitutional
Declaration” dealing with outstanding issues — including justice for
demonstrators killed during months of protests.
The rebel groups had demanded that the document call on the new government
to make peace negotiations a top priority.
Once a peace deal is finalised, sources said the rebel groups want their
representatives to be part of the transitional government.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0950 hrs