Sudan rebels suspend hostilities in support of power transition

An armed Sudanese rebel movement announced yesterday it was unilaterally suspending hostilities in support for peaceful transition of power in the country, Reuters reported.

The movement, which is active in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, said that the suspension of fighting against the government would last for three months.

“As a goodwill gesture… to give a chance for an immediate transfer of power to civilians, I, commander of SPLM-N announce the suspending of hostilities for three months in all areas under its control until July 31, 2019,” the leader of the Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement-North, Abdulaziz Al-Hilu, said in a statement.

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His announcement came days after the ongoing military council in the country declared a ceasefire in all the three conflict zones in the country.

The SPLM-N was the northern arm of what is now the ruling party in South Sudan and has allied itself with the protest movement that campaigned for Omar Al-Bashir’s overthrow.

Al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 coup, was toppled last week by the military, which has vowed free elections within two years, though protesters remain in the streets, demanding an immediate handover to an interim civilian authority.