Page 14 - The Nile Explorer Magazine 011

COVER STORY

Sudan’s

complex peace

and the role of

South Sudan

Sudan’s Sovereign Council Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and South Sudan’s
President Salva Kiir, hold hands as they arrive for the signing of the peace agreement
in Juba, South Sudan Oct. 3, 2020. (Reuters)
eaders of Sudan’s transitional improved standard of living for the would guarantee the rights of all and
Lgovernment and a number of rebel people. lead to a secure and lasting democracy”.
groups converged in Juba, South Sudan Sudan’s interim Prime Minister Abdalla The Sudanese peace accord includes
South Sudan, Oct. 3, 2020 to sign a Hamdok thanked all factions and leaders eight protocols and will restructure the
peace which observers opine represent that joined the peace accord, ending his country into eight regions, replacing the
a watershed moment for Sudan that country’s bloody 17-year conflict, urging country’s current 18 provinces. The deal
they hope will end nearly two decades the two remaining factions, which have also includes a wealth-sharing provision
of conflict in war-torn regions of the not signed the peace deal, to join the and reparations for those hurt by the
country, including Darfur. process. long conflict, and it promises the return
That such an event took place in Juba Hamdok further says that there could of refugees displaced by fighting.
is itself significant owing to the history be no development without peace, and The deal also consists of meetings,
of South Sudan, its own peace process no peace without fair and equitable written agreements and actions that
that culminated into the Comprehensive development, all of which contribute to aim to resolve the War in Dafur, the
Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in democracy. He added that the country Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan
Naivasha, Kenya in 2005, leading to the was waiting for the two rebel leaders and Blue, and armed conflicts in central,
independent of South Sudan in 2011. who have not signed the accord — Abdel northern and eastern Sudan.
But of particular relevancy, is the 2013 Aziz Helou and Abdel Wahad Nour — to In 2005, the Comprehensive Peace
peace agreement that is currently being join it. Agreement led to a resolution of some of
implemented with Riek Machar back in South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, the armed conflict in Sudan, including
Juba as First Vice President. who oversaw months of difficult the 2011 South Sudanese independence
President Salva Kiir witnessed the negotiations that led up to the August and the secession of South Sudan. It
signing event that brought together accord, told the crowd that he was is therefore not difficult to imagine
Sudan’s interim President Abdel Fattah “delighted by the agreement” and “proud the thinking in the minds of some of
al-Burhan and a mosaic of rebel of the accomplishment,” since South the leadership of the restive regions—
movements leaders that represent Sudan, itself, is still recovering from a self-determination—down the road,
the complex Sudanese geo-political long conflict. particularly if the deals don’t hold,
landscape in a country that has never Kiir also thanked the international The 2006 Abuja and 2011 Doha Darfur
known peace. community for its “support and Peace Agreements aimed to resolve the
Sudan’s interim President Abdel Fattah encouragement” in brokering the deal, conflict in Darfur. The August 2019
al-Burhan captured the moment when insisting that “our work is not done, and Draft Constitutional Declaration, signed
he stood up chanting, “Sudan is our we will not relax until our aspirations by military and civilian representatives
country and we are all brothers,” to the for a peaceful region are achieved.” He during the 2018-19 Sudanese Revolution,
large crowd that had gathered to witness warned the outside world that Sudan requires that a peace agreement be
even. “needs its help and aid.” made within the first six months of
Burhan described the event with Arko Minawi, the leader of one of the the 39-month transition period to
optimism as a great day for the destiny factions that signed the joint peace deal, democratic civilian government.
of Sudan’s people, since through the deal stressed that it was a step in the right A first round of negotiations took place
had achieved the goal of a revolution - direction. Adding that: “Sharing power in Juba in mid-September. In the second
which is peace - after many years of during the interim period in Sudan round in October 2019, agreements
war and bloodshed and would led the

14 | The Nile Explorer 011