JUBA: Sudanese leaders and rebel commanders agreed Monday on a historic peace deal, a crucial first step toward ending 17 years of conflict, an AFP correspondent said.
Leaders of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), an umbrella organization of rebel groups from the western region of Darfur and the southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, raised their fists in celebration after inking the agreement.
The deal was “initialled” and not signed, as a way to leave the door open for two key holdout rebel groups to join in a “final” agreement, officials said.
Two rebel factions have refused to take part in the deal.
Eager to celebrate the most tangible success since last year’s fall of longtime dictator Omar Al-Bashir and the establishment of an uneasy transitional government, officials met in the capital of neighboring South Sudan.
Forging peace with rebels has been a cornerstone of Sudan’s transitional government, which came to power in the months after the overthrow of Bashir in April 2019.
Sudan’s government, led militarily by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, head of a sovereign council, and on the civilian side by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, says it views peace-building as the cornerstone for all its endeavours.
Both Burhan and Hamdok were in attendance, an AFP correspondent said, while South Sudanese President Salva Kiir oversaw the ceremony.
Sudan’s rebels are largely drawn from non-Arab minority groups that long railed against Arab domination of the government in Khartoum.
About 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since rebels took up arms there in 2003, according to the United Nations.
Conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile erupted in 2011, in the wake of South Sudan’s independence, resuming two decades of war.
The agreement covers key issues around security, land ownership, transitional justice, power sharing, and the return of people who fled their homes because of fighting.
It also provides for the dismantling of rebel forces and the integration of their fighters into the national army.
Rebel members of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) had provisionally initialled the agreement with the government late on Saturday.
However, an SLM faction led by Abdelwahid Nour and a wing of the SPLM-N headed by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu refused to take part.
Sudan government and rebel groups agree peace deal
https://arab.news/26s8h
Sudan government and rebel groups agree peace deal
- Both Burhan and Hamdok were in attendance
- Sudan’s rebels are largely drawn from non-Arab minority groups that long railed against Arab domination of the government in Khartoum
Israeli military says unintentionally struck UN agency truck in Gaza
- “Our teams are taking extraordinary risks every day to keep humanitarian operations and life-sustaining services running,” UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said in a statement, calling for an investigation into the incident
TEL AVIV: Israel’s military said on Friday that a “firing component” launched by its navy unintentionally struck a fuel truck belonging to a United Nations agency in Gaza the previous day, an incident that prompted the agency to publicly call for a full investigation.
The United Nations Office for Project Services, which oversees fuel distribution in Gaza, said that the empty fuel truck was struck on Thursday around 5 a.m. from the direction of the sea, causing damage to the vehicle. There were no injuries.
“Our teams are taking extraordinary risks every day to keep humanitarian operations and life-sustaining services running,” UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said in a statement, calling for an investigation into the incident.
“They should not have to do that under fire,” he said.
In response to Reuters questions, the Israeli military said that the incident occurred during defensive naval activity, and that a firing component deviated from its intended trajectory.
The fuel truck sustained “minor damage,” the military said in a statement. The military did not say what type of munitions had been fired, or what had been the navy’s intended target.
“The incident was reviewed, and lessons were learned accordingly,” it said, without providing further details.
The fuel truck had been on its way to the Kerem Shalom crossing when it was struck, and the truck’s movements had been coordinated with Israeli authorities in advance, UNOPS said.
