Sudan announces new ceasefire in troubled regions

Sudan has extended a unilateral ceasefire for another six months in fighting with rebels in the country’s warring regions, according to SUNA news agency.

President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir’s move comes after the US confirmed last week that it would lift a 20-year-old trade embargo against Sudan if, within 180 days, the government in Khartoum improves its human rights record and further resolves its political and military conflicts. Bashir asked the government at a special cabinet meeting yesterday to prepare procedures to “accommodate the positive impact of the US lifting sanctions.”

The US will also unfreeze Sudan’s assets and seek to remove financial sanctions as a response to Khartoum’s cooperation in fighting Daesh. Following the US announcement, Sudan has said that it will further review its monetary and exchange rate policies to attract new foreign investment.

The ceasefire was already extended on 1 January, which followed a one-month extension in October last year covering the regions of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan. Fighting between the Sudanese army and rebels in Kordofan and Blue Nile broke out in 2011 when South Sudan declared independence. The older conflict in Darfur began in 2003, when mainly non-Arab tribes opposed the Arab-led government in Khartoum.

When the government announced short-term truces in the troubled regions in June and October last year, fighting stopped in the Blue Nile and Kordofan regions but not in Darfur.