April 26, 2020 (JUBA) - The Sudanese government and Darfur groups under the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) have reached an agreement to allocate 40% of the western Sudan region’s resources to its development for 10 years.

The agreement was reached during a negotiation session that took place on Sunday through video conferencing facilitated by the European Union in Khartoum and Juba.

"The two parties to the negotiation of the Darfur track have agreed that the (western Sudan) region will get 40% of the oil and minerals extracted in Darfur for ten years," said the Deputy Chief Mediator Dhieu Matouk in a briefing to the media in Juba after the meeting.

Regarding the financing of the peace implementation process, Matouk said that the parties discussed several ideas, including a mining project to be managed by the Darfur authority, according to the official news agency SUNA.

However, the parties agreed to postpone the discussion on the issue to the next negotiation session to allow the government more time to consider the matter.

The government and the SRF groups extended the talks for a month until the 9th of May, as they agreed to dedicate it for the security arrangements and national issues to be discussed with all the armed groups.

But, the discussions with Darfur groups are still stalled at the wealth-sharing and power-sharing.

Commenting on the power-sharing, Matouk said the Sudanese government and the armed groups have filed their positions on this respect.

He added that the mediation decided to give the two sides more time to discuss these proposals at the leadership level and to resume discussions in the next negotiating session.

The videoconference negotiations for peace in Darfur take place on Thursday and Sunday of every week.

Matouk said that next Thursday the parties will discuss national issues. He stressed that it will be the last one before to move to the security arrangements.

He pointed out that the mediation discussed with the government delegation about when to start the negotiations on the security matters which will be the last issue in the talks.

(ST)