Mediation postpones Sudan peace talks for one month
October 22, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s peace mediation announced on Tuesday the suspension for one month of negotiations between the transitional government, the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) and the SPLM-N led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu.
As agreed in the Juba Declaration signed last September, the three parties launched on 14 October discussions on ways to discuss peace in Darfur and the Two areas to end the armed conflict there.
The government delegation signed separate cessations of hostilities agreements and political accords ahead of the talks.
During the talks, the parties said they need to form military delegations to discuss the security arrangements and bring their advisers. Also, they agreed to mobilize neighbours and friends in the region as well as the international community to facilitate the process and support it financially.
Also, they realized that the African Union Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council should issue a new mandate for the Juba process and terminate the previous mandates.
In Khartoum, the spokesman of the Sovereign Council Mohamed al-Faki told Sudan Tribune that the first round with the peace talks has been wrapped up, as the parties will return to the negotiating table within a month after conducting the necessary consultations.
[for its part, the mediation said in a statement issued by its chairman Tut Qalwak, that the Sudanese parties were able during the first round of talks in Juba to sign several important documents.
“Among the signed documents: the declaration of cessation of hostilities, the political agreement with the Sudanese Revolutionary Front. Further, the signing of an agreement with the SPLM-N led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, which dealt with the files of negotiations, political and humanitarian issues.”
The mediation “announces to the world that achieving peace in Sudan has become possible to end the long war, and thus announces the suspension of the first round of negotiations to 21 November, to give sufficient time for the parties to conduct the necessary consultations,” he said.
However, the Sovereign Council announced that the government and the SPLM-N al-Hilu agreed, in a meeting held on Tuesday, to suspend the negotiations until a later date determined by the mediation.
The Council added that the SPLM-N handed over its response to the proposal the government negotiating team had filed to the rebel group without further details.
In a press conference held in Juba, the head of the government negotiating team with the SPLM-N Shams al-Din Kabbashi thanked President Salva Kiir for hosting the talks and reiterated the government commitment to conclude a peace deal with the armed groups.
He stressed that the armed groups are their partners in the revolution adding it would not be completed without an agreement with them and expressed hope to strike with them in the upcoming round of talks.
(ST)