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Holdout Darfur rebel movement willing to negotiate peace

Countries
Sudan
Sources
Radio Dabanga
Publication date
Origin
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The mainstream Sudan Liberation Movement under the leadership of Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW) is preparing to join the Sudanese peace process. El Nur has travelled to Kampala and has been invited to Juba.

South Sudanese chief negotiator Tut Galuak said in an interview with Sudan TV that El Nur accepted the invitation from President Salva Kiir. The leader of the Darfur holdout group will arrive in the South Sudanese capital Juba within the next two days with the aim of engaging in negotiations with the Sudanese government.

The rebel leader, branded "a serial naysayer" by the BBC two months ago, did not join the peace negotiations between Khartoum and most rebel groups allied in the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF). These negotiations started in in September 2019, and were concluded with the signing of the comprehensive Juba Peace Agreement on October 3.

For years, El Nur adhered to his position that the SLM-AW will only join peace negotiations after security and stability have been realised in Sudan's conflict-torn western region.

Recently, El Nur sent his deputy to negotiate about the peace negotiations process in Juba. On Friday, he himself travelled from Paris, were he has lived the past years, to Kampala, capital of Uganda.

El Nur said in a press statement in Kampala that his visit to Africa is the beginning of an initiative that proposes a comprehensive peace "that achieves security, stops the genocide, returns the displaced to their villages, addresses the root of the crisis, and creates equal citizenship, stable institutions, and the formation of an independent transitional government".