Sudan: UN Envoy will try to entice SPLM-N rebels to truce

The UN Special Envoy to Sudan and South Sudan has pledged to speak with the mediators in the African High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to persuade the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Abdelaziz El Hilu to sign a truce agreement.

The UN Secretary-General’s envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, Nicholas Haysom, said on Tuesday after talks in Khartoum with Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour, that he would continue his efforts in coordination with AUHIP to persuade the SPLM-N leaders to reach an agreement on the cessation of hostilities, permanent ceasefire, and then a political settlement

Foreign Minister Ghandour stressed the government's keenness to maintain the cease-fire and not return to war and thus create the political atmosphere necessary to reach a political settlement and peace.

Haysom was in Khartoum on Tuesday for talks with the Foreign Minister to discuss the efforts of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to mediate a peace agreement between the government and the armed groups in the Two Areas.

In a statement released after the meeting, the Foreign Ministry said Haysom expressed his confidence that the renewal of the unilateral cessation of hostilities declaration by the government in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states has positive effects in the two areas.

In his latest regular report to the UN Security Council (UNSC) on the African Union-United Nations hybrid operation in Darfur (Unamid) this month, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has acknowledged positive security developments, but expressed regrets that “no tangible progress has been made in finding a comprehensive political solution to the conflict in Darfur”.