The African Union Peace and Security Council has urged the AU High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) for Sudan to carry out a meeting among Sudanese political parties in Addis Ababa and facilitate talks on ceasefire arrangements with Sudanese rebel groups. 

In a communiqué dated 12 September 2014, the AU Security Council urged the mediation panel to facilitate negotiations on cessation of hostilities for the Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur.

The AU said the negotiations for these three areas “should be conducted in a synchronized manner,” under the auspices of the AUHIP and in collaboration with the chief of the UN peacekeeping chief and special representative in Darfur.

Mediators are also urged to facilitate “a meeting of the Sudanese parties to discuss relevant process issues, in order to pave the way for the National Dialogue.” This will take place at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The Council further encouraged the Sudanese government to undertake a number of “confidence-building measures” ahead of this national political dialogue, including:

“(i) the release of all political detainees and prisoners;

(ii) the adoption and implementation of all necessary steps to ensure political freedoms and full guarantee of the freedom of expression and publication, including by enacting the necessary legislation to give effect to these freedoms;

(iii) ensuring that the judiciary will be the only institution to adjudicate matters relating to the exercise of the freedom of expression and publication, with no resort to extraordinary measures; and

(iv) providing the necessary guarantees for the armed groups freely to participate in the National Dialogue, once the comprehensive ceasefire and security arrangements agreements have been concluded, and facilitating humanitarian assistance to all populations in war-affected areas.”

Read the entire communiqué

File photo: Thabo Mbeki (C) with Malik Agar, chairman of the SRF, on his left at the signing ceremony of an agreement with the National Dialogue committee on 4 September in the Ethiopian capital