KHARTOUM: The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) has agreed on a peace deal with the government aimed at ending 17 years of conflict, official news agency SUNA said on Sunday.
SRF is an alliance of rebel groups from the western region of Darfur and the southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile and inked a peace agreement with the government late on Saturday.
A formal signing ceremony is planned for in Juba, the capital of neighbouring South Sudan, which has hosted and helped mediate the long-running talks since late 2019.
Senior government officials and rebel leaders “signed their initials on protocols on security arrangements” and other issues late on Saturday, SUNA reported.
Two rebel movements rejected part of the deal – a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Abdel Wahid Al Nur, and a wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), headed by Abdelaziz al-Hilu.
The final agreement covers key issues around security, land ownership, transitional justice, power sharing and the return of people who fled their homes due to war. It also provides for the dismantling of rebel forces and the integration of their fighters into the national army.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and several ministers flew to Juba on Sunday, where he met South Sudan President Salva Kiir.
Hamdok said finding a deal had taken longer than first hoped after an initial agreement in September 2019. “At the Juba declaration in September, everyone expected peace to be signed within two or three months, but we realised that the questions were of great complexity,” Hamdok said.