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Arab parliament welcomes al-Bashir’s ceasefire announcement in Blue Nile, South Kordofan.

June 21, 2016 at 10:43 am

The Arab Parliament Speaker Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Jarwan has welcomed the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s announcement of a comprehensive four-month ceasefire in the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Fighting in the two states between armed rebels and government troops has left scores of casualties.

“The Sudanese president’s wise initiative gives the opportunity for everyone to lay down their arms and catch up with the peace process in Sudan,” Al-Jarwan said in a statement on Monday.

He added: “It also represents an opportunity to respond to the president’s invitation for all the political forces and the armed movements to join the national dialogue before the General Assembly for National Dialogue meeting on 6 August.”

Al-Jarwan called on the fighting parties to respond to the president’s invitation, stressing that this courageous decision supports ways to resolve the crisis through dialogue and peaceful means, which would save lives, security and peace.

Rebel fighters with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) have been battling government forces in the two southern states since 2011, in a conflict where neither side has managed to definitively take control of the two areas.