Sudanese march for peace agreement

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction, led by Abdelaziz El Hilu (SPLM-N El Hilu), in coordination with a number of political parties, civil and professional associations, and members of Resistance Committees, organised marches in Khartoum and a number of state capitals, in support of the Addis Ababa agreement between Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and SPLM-N El Hilu.

The demonstration in Khartoum, organised by the Sudanese Professionals Association, the Demanding People Assembly, the Democratic Union Party and others, headed towards Freedom Square (formerly Green Square).

Participants called on the transitional government to speed up the peace process and break the deadlock of negotiations with SPLM-N El Hilu in South Kordofan and to bring the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) in central Darfur into negotiations.

Additional demands include addressing root causes of war in Sudan, to take citizenship as a basis for human rights, and for the state not to discriminate based on religion, race, or gender.

The protestors also demanded that the Council of Ministers must be responsible for the peace file, in order to enhance the civil character of the transition process and lay the foundations for a pluralistic, democratic Sudan.

Kordofan

In Abu Jubeiha in South Kordofan, a demonstration about the peace agreements was thwarted by the authorities yesterday.

El Sheikh Mohamedein, a member of the Comprehensive Peace Forces Association, told Radio Dabanga that they were surprised when the Abu Jubeiha security committee refused to allow them to conduct a motorcade through the town: “They insisted that they must be notified in advance of any public activity taking place in the town.”

Mohamedein said that the demonstrators went directly to the venue of the political seminar at Freedom Square in the town, where leaders of the Comprehensive Peace Forces Association addressed them, and SPLM-N El Hilu leaders addressed them by phone from Juba.

Two days ago, a Nuba activist was beaten-up by members of the Military Intelligence in Abu Jubeiha.

The Abu Jubeiha sit-in that lasted for more than two months, was lifted on September 8, when the state government and the Abu Jubeiha Resistance Committees signed a joint agreement. A week earlier, the governor had already acceded to most of the sit-in demands.

In Delling locality in the northern part of South Kordofan, a large demonstration in support of peace and the declaration of the agreement signed between El Hilu and Hamdok was held in rebel-held areas of the city.

The marchers carried banners calling for “comprehensive and just peace” and “separation of religion from the state”.

Kauda, ​​the stronghold of the SPLM-N El Hilu, also witnessed a large march in support of peace. Kajo Shayen, a representative of civil society groups in the area controlled by the rebel movement, told Radio Dabanga that the march was attended by all sectors, along with civil society organizations and official authorities, who walked through the town before heading to Freedom Square.

Khartoum governance ceremony

Mohamed El Taayshi, a member of the Sovereign Council, affirmed that the Juba peace agreement “answers all issues but does not include all parties,” yesterday.

A comprehensive and sustainable peace will only be possible if non-signatories are included, according to El Taayshi, who spoke at a ceremony organised by the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) in the presence of members of the Sovereign Council, ministers, and representatives of political parties at the Friendship Hall in Khartoum.

“2020 is the last opportunity to stop the war and build the country on strong foundations,” he said. The December revolution addressed historical mistakes and gave peace a priority. The Juba agreement aims to restore the power once monopolised by the historically dominant northern elites to the rural areas, according to “a new structure consisting of eight centres based on a true federal system”.

New provinces represented by local governments, responsible for development, services, and security, will be established six months after the final signing of the comprehensive peace agreement in the South Sudanese capital according to El Taayshi.

The SLM-MM and the mainstream Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by Mohamed Osman El Mirghani, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on Wednesday.

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