Sudan extends unilateral ceasefire until end of 2018

July 12, 2018 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir Thursday extended a unilateral cessation of hostilities for a six-month period until the end of the year.

The presidential decree says the ceasefire will be effective in all areas of operations until December 31, 2018, without further details but it is supposed to cover Darfur region and the Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

“The decision to extend the ceasefire is in line with the State’s approach to uphold the values of peace, to implement the outputs of the National Dialogue and to enable the armed groups to catch up with peace and national reconciliation,” further said the statement.

The talks with the SPLM-N groups to end the conflict in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile states are stalled as the mediators failed to bring the parties to sign a permanent ceasefire and to engage talks on the political issues.

Following the spilt of the SPLM-N in two factions, the mediation sought to hold peace talks between the group of Abdel Aziz al-Hilu and the government in vain.

For the other faction led by Malik Agar, the mediation deals with it within the framework of the Sudan Call opposition umbrella which includes armed groups from Darfur region and political parties.

Also, this process is impeded by the failure to reach a framework agreement for talks on Darfur conflict and the revitalization of a roadmap struck in August 2016 but no longer fits with the political developments.

The German government which facilitates the peace process seeks to narrow the gaps between the parties, as the African Union mediation didn’t show up since the failure of talks between the government and SPLM-N al-Hilu for a ceasefire agreement in February 2018.

(ST)