KHARTOUM

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) announced Sunday the release of 20 Sudanese army prisoners in response to an initiative by the Saehoon group.

Saehoon is an Islamist "reformist" group made up of hundreds of members from Sudan's Islamic Movement, which was created by Sudan's ruling National Congress Party.

SPLM-N said in a statement that the International Committee of the Red Cross will send a plane from Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to transport 20 soldiers in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

The rebel group said that the decision came ahead of the next round of talks with Saehoon in consideration of "the humanitarian situation of the prisoners and their families."

The movement also invited Saehoon to a joint meeting to discuss and develop a common humanitarian agenda that includes those who are missing and imprisoned from all parties.

In November, a Saehoon delegation met with the SPLM-N leadership in Addis Ababa to discuss a prisoner exchange initiative between the Sudanese government and SPLM-N.

Since 2011, the SPLM-N has waged an active insurgency against the Khartoum government in Sudan's southern Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

Outlawed by Khartoum, the movement consists mainly of fighters who sided with the south during Sudan's decades-long civil war.

www.aa.com.tr/en