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JUBA - 30 Aug 2020

Sudan's Hamdok arrives in Juba ahead of singing of peace deal

Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdouk arrived in Juba on Sunday ahead of the signing of a peace deal between his government and the rebel alliance Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) on Monday.

Hamdok was accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Omar Manis, Minister of Justice, Nasr- Eddin Abdel- Bari, Minister of Culture and Information, Faisal Mohamed Saleh, Minister of Finance, Heba Mohamed Ali, Minister of Energy and Mining Engineer Khairi Abdurrahman and Director of the General Intelligence Service, Lt. Gen. Jamal Abdel-Majid.

The Sudanese delegation was received at Juba International Airport by President Salva Kiir’s national affairs security advisor and head of the mediation team, Tut Gatluak Manime.

Upon his arrival, Prime Minister Hamdok met with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and discussed the signing of a peace deal with the opposition alliance Sudanese Revolutionary Front in Juba on Monday morning.

Hamdok said in a press conference following the meeting that he was very happy to be in his second country, South Sudan.

The Sudanese premier noted that his meeting with President Kiir was fruitful, saying they discussed with Kiir several matters, especially the peace process in Sudan.

 “When we signed the Juba Declaration in September last year, we all expected that peace would be realized within two or three months. The feeling emanated from the fact that the government side was not negotiating with other different parties. We were negotiating with the armed struggle forces, which are a genuine partner in the revolution,” he said.

“But when we began discussing the issues, it became clear that those issues were so complicated. But we have managed to accomplish this huge work in this period, and this would constitute the beginning of building peace,” he added.

Hamdok promised to discuss the remaining topics on the Sudanese peace process with South Sudan’s government and the mediation team.

Talks between the new transitional government and armed opposition leaders are aimed at ending Sudan’s years-long civil wars after a power-sharing deal between the military and a pro-democracy movement following the overthrow of former president Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

The transitional government has repeatedly said achieving peace and stability is crucial to rebuilding the country.

Since October 2019, South Sudan has been mediating between the Sudanese government and the various opposition factions.

On August 20, the SPLM-N faction led by General Abdel-Aziz Adam al-Hilu pulled out of the talks with the Sudanese government team, in protest against the chairmanship by Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamadan Daglo ‘Hemeti’, who is Deputy Chairman of the Transitional Sovereign Council and Commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).