Sudan and armed groups agree to extend talks for one month
March 10, 2020 (JUBA) – The talks for peace in Sudan have been extended until 9 April, announced the South Sudanese mediation on Monday.
The announcement was made by Dhieu Matouk, the spokesman of the mediation team in Juba after a meeting with the Sudanese government and Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) with the South Sudanese chief mediator Tut Kew Gatluak.
“The parties agreed to extend the peace talks for a month starting from the eighth of March and ending on the ninth of next April,” he said.
The extension deal was signed by Shams al-Din Kabbashi, member of the Sovereign Council, and member of the government negotiating delegation, the leaders of the SRF groups and Gatluak, the head of the mediation team.
Matouk said that the parties agreed to the one-month extension with a timetable determining the specific topics and the amount of time allocated for discussion on each topic.
Last month, the SPLM-N led by Malik Agar said the negotiations were entering the final stages as the group is discussing the security arrangements with the government.
However, Darfur groups say they want the extension of the transitional period, the establishment of a regional entity in Darfur, the power-sharing at the state and national levels.
Talks with the SPLM-N led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu are deadlock as the group refuses to engage peace talks with the government without including the self-determination and the secular state on the agenda of the negotiations.
(ST)
