Sudan signs peace deal with rebel alliance

NAIROBI, Kenya — Hoping to put an end to nearly two decades of bloodshed that has left hundreds of thousands dead and millions more displaced, the transitional government of Sudan signed a peace agreement with an alliance of rebel groups Monday to end fighting in Darfur and the southern regions of South Kordofan and the Blue Nile.

It was the first major breakthrough in a peace process that started soon after the ouster of Omar alBashir, the longtime Sudanese dictator accused of atrocities in Darfur that earned him an indictment on genocide charges in an international court.

After al-Bashir was ousted in April 2019, a joint military-civilian government promised to bring both democracy and peace. But with violence and massacres in Darfur being reported as recently as July, there was concern that promises of peace would once again fall short and the nation would descend into a familiar cycle of bloodshed.

While observers cautioned that Monday’s deal needed to be followed with concrete reforms, it was widely viewed as a critical first step to a more enduring peace. More than 300,000 people have been killed in years of fighting in Darfur, according to the United Nations. Another 2.7 million were forced from their homes. Thousands more have died in fighting in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile since fighting first broke out in the region in 2011.

Reasons for caution remain, observers said: At least two rebel factions did not join the peace talks, and previous accords, including in 2006 and 2011, have failed to end the killing.

While the largest armed groups were involved in the talks and, under the terms of the agreement, militants will now be able to transition into the national security forces, it was still unclear whether the military itself would be reformed.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok of Sudan said it was a moment for optimism, dedicating the agreement to “children who were born in displacement and refugee camps and to the mothers and fathers who miss their villages and cities.”

He said that since the protests first erupted against the rule of al-Bashir in December 2018, the Sudanese people had looked hopefully for “the promise of justice, the promise of development, and the promise of safety.”