Government suspends eastern Sudan peace agreement
December 16, 2021 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan on Thursday suspended the eastern Sudan peace agreement in a bid to settle the crisis that erupted in the region after its rejection by a Beja tribal component.
The suspension of the controversial deal was announced by the Deputy Chairman of the Sovereign Council Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo who is the Chair of the Higher Eastern Sudan Conflict Resolution Committee after consultations with the stakeholders including the signatory groups and the mediation.
In a statement released on Thursday, the Sovereign Council said the agreement has been suspended “until an agreement is reached by the components”.
“The peace parties and the government, along with the mediation, agreed on a suspension of the East Track, and the formation of a committee from the two sides to consider “the Ghild” issues,” further reads the statement.
The Ghild is a term used in eastern Sudan to designate tribal reconciliation.
The statement added that the head of the Sovereign Council and the Prime Minister agreed to form a compensation committee.
The eastern Sudan peace agreement is part of the Juba Peace Agreement that includes a deal for the conflict in the Blue Nile State, another for the Darfur region and two others for opposition groups from central and northern Sudan members of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front.
A Beja tribal group, the Hadandawi and their leader Mohamed Trek were opposed to the track saying they were not associated with the negotiations. Further, they claimed they would be marginalized pointing that the agreement would give power to the other tribal factions.
The Sovereign Council said a meeting gathering the stakeholders would be held soon to discuss the conflict. Also, the Conflict Resolution Committee would launch consultations immediately with the parties to prepare for the meeting.
For their part, the signatory groups (Beja Congress of Ussama Saeed and the United Popular Front for Liberation and Justice led by Kalid Idris) issued a statement announcing accepting the temporary suspension of the deal.
“We accepted the temporary suspension of the Eastern Path Agreement for a period of two weeks, upon the request of the Sovereign Council and Mediation Committees,” reads the joint statement.
They further expressed their readiness to take part in the proposed committees to start consultations on the resolution of the eastern Sudan crisis.
The two groups and their allies of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front say opposed to the cancellation of the agreement as it was requested by their rivals.
(ST)