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An official signing ceremony was held in Juba under the auspices of the President of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, in which the agreement was signed on the government side by the head of the government delegation, Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), Deputy Chief of the “Sovereignty Council” that heads the “Rapid Support Forces” accused of committing crimes in conflict zones. And the leaders of four rebel movements met within the alliance of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front.
The signatures referred, respectively, to the Darfur region, which erupted in 2003 and caused the deaths of at least 300 thousand people and 2.5 million displaced people in the first years, then South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where more than one million people were affected by the conflict.
Large numbers of Sudanese officials flocked to Juba, led by Sovereignty Council Chairman Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok, to take part in the celebration of the first “great achievement” since the former president’s removal. Omar Al-Bashir in April 2019.
The leaders of the rebel movements saluted Dagalo with their fists and danced together for a while to the music. Political and tribal officials have also signed other development-related agreements in various regions. The celebration was attended by Emirati and Saudi delegations and from African countries.
The Sudanese Revolutionary Front was established in 2011 and is made up of four movements that signed the agreement. The affected movements and the Sudanese government signed the protocols that make up the agreement in recent days.
The four movements are: the Sudan Liberation Movement / Minni Minawi Wing, the Justice and Equality Movement, the Transitional Revolutionary Council and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement / Ala Malik Aqar.
The signing was carried out only in the initials, because the negotiators seek to include two large movements that did not participate in the agreement, namely: the Sudan Liberation Army / Abdel Wahid Nur wing, which did not enter the negotiations, and the Movement of the Sudan People’s Liberation / wing Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, who is fighting in the south. Kordofan and Blue Nile, which suspended negotiations with the government a few days ago, due to their objection to Daglo’s chairmanship of the negotiations.
Hamdok said during the ceremony: “We realize that this peace has opened a long and difficult door, but we are committed to the full implementation of the agreement.” He added: “My message today to the SPLM / North led by Commander Abdul Aziz Al-Hilu and to the Sudan Liberation Army Movement led by Commander Abdul Wahid Nur, we are waiting for you. In this agreement, most of the issues were discussed. It must join the peace process to achieve comprehensive peace for Sudan. “
On the sidelines of the ceremony, Sudanese government spokesman Faisal Muhammad Saleh told AFP: “We know that we will face several problems when we start the implementation on the ground, but we have the political will that the implementation of the agreement be successful.” He added: “We believe that we have initiated the real change in Sudan from dictatorship to democracy.”
One year of negotiation
The negotiations took a year. Following the failure of several agreements to end the conflict in Darfur, including the Abuja Agreement in 2006 and the 2010 agreement in Qatar, the parties realized that the matter is not only related to security issues, but rather with the depth of the problems, some of which date back to the country’s independence in 1956.
During the last days, representatives of the different parties signed, with their initials, eight protocols that make up the peace agreement and address: security, the issue of land, Hawakir, transitional justice, reparations, reparations, the protocol for the development of the nomads and shepherds sector, the division of wealth, the protocol for sharing power, the issue of displaced persons and refugees.
The agreement stipulates the need to dismantle the armed movements and their combatants joining the regular army, which will reorganize itself to be representative of all components of the Sudanese people.
Sudan has been governed by a transitional government for more than a year that is the result of an agreement between the military that overthrew Omar al-Bashir and the leaders of the popular protest against him, which continued for months after his fall to demand a civil government. The transition period was defined in three years, ending with the organization of free elections.
The transitional government made peace a priority, especially since several rebel movements participated in the protest movement.
After the signing ceremony, Malik Aqar said in a speech he delivered: “I announce from this rostrum the end of the war … and I call on the wing of Abdel Wahid Nour and Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu not to lose the opportunity created by the people of Sudan. “
The most important conflict stations in the Darfur region
Today’s agreement covered the conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan since 2003. According to the United Nations, the conflict has caused nearly 300,000 deaths and the displacement of another 2.5 million, most during the first few years. of the conflict. The deal also includes Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Here’s a look at the history of the conflict there:
On February 26, 2003, the rebellion of ethnic minorities in Darfur against the Khartoum regime began. The rebels seized control of the city of Golo in North Darfur state.
In March, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement / Army demanded a more equitable distribution of power and wealth.
In late 2007, a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force was deployed to replace an African force that was formed in 2004.
– In May 2008, the Justice and Equality Movement launched an unprecedented attack on the city of Omdurman, adjacent to Khartoum, which resulted in more than 220 deaths.
In 2009, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, and then, in 2010, issued an arrest warrant for committing genocide.
– After months of calm, fighting resumed in late 2010 after the fall of an agreement signed in 2006 with a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement. The United Nations counted more than 2,300 deaths in one year.
– In November 2011, the most prominent armed factions in Darfur and the northern branch of the former southern rebellion ratified a document that provides for the establishment of a revolutionary front aimed at overthrowing the regime. Khartoum accused the Justice and Equality Movement of allying itself with the state of South Sudan, which declared its independence in 2011 and which, according to Khartoum, supports armed rebels in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile. But Juba denied it.
– In March 2014, the United Nations condemned the restrictions imposed on humanitarian teams in Darfur and the increase in the number of displaced people: 215,000 in the mentioned year, noting that the camps originally housed some two million. In November, Omar al-Bashir called for a “clear program” for the withdrawal of the joint force, amid deteriorating relations with it, as international soldiers investigated allegations of mass rapes by Sudanese soldiers.
In April 2016, a controversial referendum continued to divide Darfur into five states. In June, the government announced a unilateral ceasefire. In August, negotiations between the authorities and the rebels failed to resolve the hostilities in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. On September 7, however, Al-Bashir announced the return of peace to Darfur. In late September Amnesty International accused Khartoum of carrying out chemical attacks that killed civilians in western Sudan, but the authorities denied this.
On December 22, 2019, the Sudanese judiciary announced the opening of an investigation into the crimes committed in Darfur, starting in 2003, against leaders of the former Bashir regime.
On January 24, 2020, a coalition of nine rebel groups from two conflict zones in Sudan signed a preliminary agreement with the Sudanese government after weeks of talks that were an essential step on the way to a final peace agreement. Talks began in South Sudan in October with the aim of ending conflicts in the states of Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
On February 11, a member of the Sudan Sovereignty Council, which was formed in August 2019 to oversee the political transition, confirmed that Omar al-Bashir would be handed over to the International Criminal Court. On June 9, the International Criminal Court announced that Ali Kushayb, leader of the Janjaweed militias wanted since 2007, had surrendered and was facing charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the bloody conflict in the region of Darfur
On July 16, the government and the rebels began the final phase of the peace talks, which focused on creating a unified army. On August 28, the joint mission called on Khartoum to deploy security forces “as quickly as possible” to Darfur after a series of killings.
