Sudan peace talks extended to 9 May
April 9, 2020 (JUBA) – Peace talks between Sudan’s government and armed groups have been extended for one month to allow them to finalize security arrangement and power-sharing discussions, said the South Sudanese mediators.
The negotiations initially had to be concluded by 14 December 2019, but every time they had been extended for two months, then for three weeks while in March they extended the process until 9 April.
The discussions had been suspended for a week last month after the death of Sudanese defence minister in Juba who led the government’s negotiating team on the security arrangement.
The chief mediator Tut Kew Gatluak in a news briefing on Thursday to announced the extension said that the death of the top military official and the negative impact of health measures imposed in the country to fight the coronavirus delayed the multi-track negotiations for peace in Sudan
The mediation stopped direct meetings and organized indirect talks through written notes.
For these reasons, it was decided by the mediation with the approval of the negotiating parties to extend the negotiations from the ninth of April 2020 until the ninth of May 2020,” he stressed.
The agreement which was signed by the South Sudanese chief mediator, the Sudanese government and all the armed groups of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front.
The SPLM-N led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu was not among the signatories of the extension agreement seen by Sudan Tribune. The group refuses to engage in direct talks with the government before to include the right to self-determination and the secular state to the agenda of the negotiations.
The government delegation Wednesday asked for two additional days for its response to a paper by Darfur groups dealing with the suspended issues on the various chapters of the talks including the power-sharing compensations.
The armed groups in western Sudan demand to be given four positions in the Sovereign Council and the 30 of the government portfolios, besides the position of speaker of the transitional government.
(ST)