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A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 15 OcTOber 2019
Sudan's government, rebels start peace talks in Juba

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan's new delayed the formation of
transitional government the parliament and the
met with rebel leaders on appointment of provincial
Monday, kicking off peace governors to allow time
talks aimed at ending the for the rebels to come on
country's yearslong civil board.
wars. The government delega-
The peace initiative was tion, led by Gen. Moham-
built into a power-sharing med Hamadan Dagalo,
deal between Sudan's a member of the Sudan's
army and its pro-democ- sovereign council, arrived
racy movement. That in Juba late Sunday. Rebel
deal was reached after leaders arrived earlier this
the overthrow of longtime month.
autocrat President Omar Rebel leader Malik Agar of
al-Bashir in April. The tran- the Sudan Revolutionary
sitional authorities have six Front, an alliance of Dar-
months to make peace fur rebel groups, told The
with the rebels, according Associated Press that they
to the agreement. would start "the official
South Sudan's President opening" of the talks Mon-
Salva Kiir is hosting the talks day in Juba.
in its capital, Juba, where In this photo provided by the official SUNA news agency, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, left, head of Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan,
some rebel groups signed a Sudan’s sovereign council, meets with South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, in Juba, South Sudan, head of Sudan's sovereign
draft agreement last month Monday, Oct. 14, 2019. council, also arrived in
that detailed a roadmap Associated Press Juba to attend the open-
for the talks, trust-building ing session, along with oth-
measures and an extension Sudan was most known for ed on ending the wars with Sudanese authorities have er African leaders includ-
of a cease-fire already in al-Bashir's brutal repression rebels in order to revive the introduced good-will sig- ing Egypt's Prime Minister
place. of an uprising in the western country's battered econ- nals. They dismissed death Mustafa Madbouly and
South Sudan gained inde- Darfur region. omy through slashing the sentences against eight Ethiopia's Prime Minister
pendence from the north Achieving peace is crucial military spending, which rebel leaders and released Abiy Ahmed, according
in 2011 after decades of to the transitional govern- takes up much of the na- more than a dozen prison- to the official SUNA news
civil war. But in the 2000s, ment in Sudan. It has count- tional budget. ers of war. They have also agency.q

Russia's Putin visits Saudi Arabia on Mideast trip

By JON GAMBRELL sia's national anthem,
Associated Press then greeted officials and
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- sat with King Salman for
ates (AP) — Russian Presi- a conversation captured
dent Vladimir Putin trav- by state television. Earlier,
eled to Saudi Arabia on a broadly grinning Saudi
Monday, meeting with the Crown Prince Mohammed
oil-rich nation's king and bin Salman walked up to
crown prince as he seeks to greet Putin on his arrival.
cement Moscow's political The crown prince later en-
and energy ties across the gaged in a conversation
Mideast. with Russian Foreign Minis-
Putin received all the trap- ter Sergey Lavrov.
pings of a state visit, with Putin even paused to ad-
a mounted guard escort- mire a traditional curved
ing his limousine to King knife, a janbiya, worn by a
Salman's Al-Yamamah pal- member of the Saudi honor
ace in Riyadh on his first visit guard on hand.
to the kingdom since 2007. In brief remarks, the
In the intervening years, the 83-year-old King Salman
Arab Spring roiled the wid- praised relations between
er Mideast as Putin would Riyadh and Moscow, espe-
partner with Iran in back- cially energy agreements.
ing Syrian President Bashar Russian President Vladimir Putin, center left, and Saudi Arabia's King Salman, right, attend the of- At a recent OPEC meeting
Assad in that country's ficial welcome ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Oct. 14, 2019. in Abu Dhabi, Saudi Energy
still-raging war. Saudi Ara- Associated Press Minister Prince Abdulaziz
bia unsuccessfully backed described the arrange-
those trying to oust Assad. million barrels per day, with prices. Crude oil sold for "The OPEC+ production ment as "'til death do us
But more recently, Russia 800,000 coming from OPEC over $100 a barrel in the cuts agreement has been part."
joined OPEC in lowering and 400,000 coming from summer of 2014 before bot- extended thanks to active Prince Abdulaziz briefed
their production beginning non-OPEC members, an ar- toming out below $30 a participation of our coun- both leaders before a sign-
in 2017, the first such cut for rangement now known as barrel in January 2016. On tries," Putin said. ing ceremony at the pal-
the cartel in a decade. It OPEC+. Monday, it traded just un- Putin listened to a Saudi ace on 20 agreements be-
reduced production by 1.2 That helped boost energy der $60 a barrel. military band play Rus- tween the two nations.q