‘Sudan Armed Forces to observe Two Areas ceasefire’

The Sudan Armed Forces have instructed all units, formations, and other supportive forces to fully implement the ceasefire for the ‘Two Areas’ of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, declared by President Al Bashir.

In a statement on Wednesday via the official Sudanese News Agency (SUNA), the spokesman for the Sudanese Armed Forces, Brigadier Ahmed Khalifa Ahmed Shami said the ceasefire will be fully observed effective Saturday June 18th of June, for four months.

Brig. Shami stressed, however, that “the Armed Forces will retain their due right to respond to any attack that targets their positions or undermine their administrative movements in accordance with the observed principle of combat”.

The ceasefire renews the call of the Sudanese president for the opposition forces to join the National Dialogue process before the general assembly of the national dialogue which will be held on 6 August, SUNA reported last week.

In a statement, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, welcomed the announcement of the ceasefire, saying: If Sudan and the armed opposition groups respect the unilateral ceasefire, it “will also create a conducive environment for advancing the peace process in Sudan”.

Dlamini-Zuma expressed her wish that the armed opposition respects the unilateral ceasefire for six months, which was announced last April. If both parties cease hostilities, it will “ease the suffering of the populations in the conflict areas”.