Signing of Sudan peace agreement postponed

The head of the South Sudanese mediation team, Dhieu Mathok announced that the signing of the final peace agreement by the government and the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebel alliance has been postponed.

The peace agreement will be signed “in the coming days in Juba, after an accord on security arrangements has been reached”, Mathok said at a press conference in Khartoum

A government security delegation will accompany the mediation team to Juba today to negotiate security arrangements.

He said that the government and the SRF agreed on six major issues, so that the negotiations between the government and the SRF will actually end. Only the security protocol remains to be discussed.

Mathok said that the mediation team is preparing a matrix for implementing the agreement, including a time table. The final peace agreement will also be translated into English, for the benefit of partner countries and international organisations.

SRF

The Sudan Revolutionary Front attributed the postponement of the signing of the peace agreement, called “national pivotal issues paper” by the SRF, to the violent break-up of the sit-in in Fata Borno in North Darfur by militiamen.

In a statement, the SRF announced that it accepts the draft agreement with its six articles, provided that the peace agreement is signed in Juba, where the negotiations took place, and only after agreeing on the implementation matrix, the security arrangements, and other remaining outstanding issues.

Women

Sudanese women started a campaign yesterday against the exclusion of women in the nominations of civilian governors. The campaign is headed by the No to Oppression against Women Initiative, the Sudanese Women's Union, and southern Khartoum Kandakat.

The Civil Forces Association called in a statement issued yesterday on all the forces of the revolution, including the Forces for Freedom and Change and the government, to support the participation of women, “not as a decorative grant but as an acquired right”.

The statement, entitled "No to the Exclusion of Women", stresses that the current list of proposed civilian governors “does not do justice to women”. It brings to mind that active participation of women in political decision-making and implementation of policies “is one of the demands of the glorious December revolution, in which the best sons and daughters of our country fought, and were tortured and killed”.

The Sudanese Women’s Peace and Security Initiative called on the government to comply with the United Nations Security Council’s decision on the need to protect women from being affected by conflict.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Initiative said that women in Darfur and Sudan are affected by wars and prolongation of conflicts. Solving the conflicts and addressing the consequences of war can only take place if women actively participate in the peace process and decision-making, the statement says.

The Women’s Peace and Security Initiative added that is absolutely necessary to hold the perpetrators of violence accountable, and show fairness to the victims, especially women. It calls for positive discrimination of women at all levels of peacebuilding.

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