Sudan decides to redeploy armed groups out of Khartoum
March 30, 2021 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Security and Defence Council directed the armed groups, signatory of the Juba peace agreement, to stop the recruitment of new fighters and to withdraw their armed elements in Khartoum.
On Tuesday, the Technical Committee of the Security and Defence Council held headed by the Chief of Staff of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) Lt Gen Mohamed Osman al-Hussein a meeting at the Presidential Palace.
In a statement extended to the Sudan Tribune, SAF Military Media said that the committee decided to “stop the political recruitment by the Armed Struggle Movements in the various cities of Sudan until the security arrangements chapter is fully implemented.”
Further, the committee decided to “empty the capital and major cities of the manifestations of armed presence,” stressed the statement.
In February and March, fighters of some armed groups in Darfur arrived in the capital Khartoum with all their armament and heavy military equipment.
The matter was criticized by the public and raised debate about their presence in Khartoum particularly after the occupation of the Olympic Committee premises.
The leaders of the armed groups that have forces in the capital say it is part of the security arrangements. But other leaders who kept their forces in the cantonment sites in the conflict areas say such deployment is not part of the peace agreement.
According to the peace agreement signed between the government and the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) groups, the implementation of the security arrangements was supposed to start two months after the signing of the deal on 3 October 2020.
Hadi Idris, a member of the Transitional Sovereign Council and SRF leader on Tuesday directed the security authorities in the Northern State to arrest and prosecute anyone who recruits people in the name of the armed movements.
“The movements that signed the Juba Agreement Peace for Sudan began the preparations for the implementation of the security arrangements to form a unified national army. They did not seek at all to recruit anyone,” he added during a meeting with the security committee in the Northern State.
Governor Amal Mohamed Izzaldin welcomed Idris’s visit to the Northern State to brief them about the peace agreement and to assess the situation in the region.
She further pledged to implement his directives on the arrest of those who recruit civilians.
During his visit to the Darfur region earlier this year, Idris spoke about the need to restore the state authority and prevent armed fighters from bearing arms outside the cantonment sites.
(ST)