KHARTOUM: Sudan has extended until the end of this year a three-year-old unilateral cease-fire with rebels fighting in three parts of the country, the presidential palace said on Thursday, as Khartoum pushes to end years of civil war and improve its economy.
Thousands of people have been killed in Sudan’s civil wars, including the conflict in the western Darfur region, where rebels have been fighting against President Omar Bashir’s government since 2003.
“President Omar Hassan Bashir has issued a presidential decision to extend the cease-fire in all fields of operations until Dec. 31, 2018,” the presidential palace said in a statement.
Cease-fires have been in place in Darfur and the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2015. Bashir last extended them in March for three months.
The fighting in Darfur has subsided over the past three years. In South Kordofan and Blue Nile, members of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) have kept up a fight against Khartoum’s rule even as most of the territory where the SPLA fought for decades became independent South Sudan in 2011.
Bashir has been pushing to end the conflicts in his country as part of efforts to improve the economy, which has suffered more since the south seceded, taking with it three quarters of oil output.
The president, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague on charges filed in 2008 over the deaths and persecution of ethnic groups in Darfur between 2003 and 2008, has continued his travels abroad.
Bashir participated in the inauguration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday and was due to travel to Moscow on Friday.
The statement said Bashir would join 25 heads of state who were expected to attend the World Cup final.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin would meet Bashir in Moscow before the match.
Sudan extends cease-fire with rebels until year-end
Sudan extends cease-fire with rebels until year-end
- The fighting in Darfur has subsided over the past three years
- Cease-fires have been in place in Darfur and the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2015
Three vessels hit by projectiles in Strait of Hormuz
- A projectile hit a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, setting it ablaze
DUBAI: Three vessels have been hit by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, maritime security agencies and sources said on Wednesday.
One of the strikes led to a fire onboard a ship and forced most of its crew to evacuate it.
The Thailand-flagged bulk carrier Mayuree Naree was targeted and damaged approximately 11 nautical miles north of Oman, two maritime security sources cited by Reuters have said.
The fire had been extinguished and that there was no environmental impact, a report by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said later, referring to the incident. Necessary crew remained on the vessel.
Earlier, a container ship and a bulk carrier were hit off the coast of the UAE by unknown projectiles, UKMTO also said.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery accounting for about 20% of global oil and gas supply, has dropped rapidly since the Iran conflict began on February 28.
The latest incidents increase the number of ships that have been attacked since the conflict began to at least 14.
(with Reuters)
