Benjamin Takpiny
25 January 2020•Update: 26 January 2020
JUBA, South Sudan
The Transitional Military Council to the Sovereignty Council of Sudan and Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement North a rebel group in Sudan signed a framework agreement that include power-sharing, wealth and security arrangement Friday in the South Sudanese capital, Juba.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit said with peace the people of Sudan will enjoy the fruits of their nation.
“There is nothing better than peace, because through peace you will get anything that you want. If you have peace, but in war it will be just destruction. You have seen South Sudan when the war broke out in 2013, it stop all the development which we were doing very rapidly to develop the country but its stop once when war start in 2013 and up to now no development,” he siad.
He said this year is marked as a year of silencing guns all over the whole world and he believeas it will start with Sudan and also in South Sudan.
“If we continue fighting among ourselves nobody will then turn to us. We will be left to decide our fade by killing ourselves to the end. I am happy you have reached this agreement although it’s not a final agreement but I am hopefully you will reach the final agreement in few weeks to come,” he said.
Kiir said Sudan is very rich country and people are still suffering because of war.
The Deputy Chair of Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement North, Yasir Arman, said it is committed to peace with Sudan’s government such that peace come to their country.
“We signed the agreement and hopeful peace will come finally in Sudan.”
His group will work hard to build a partnership with the Sudanese government to end suffering of people in Sudan, he said
Gen. Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemeti’, deputy chairman of Sudan’s Sovereign Council and commander of the Rapid Support Forces, said peace will change the lives of people in Sudan,
He said the group’s presence in Juba is to show the political commitment of the government in Sudan.
“We are signing today to show that government of Sudan is more willing than before to reach peaceful settlement in Sudan and we want this peace to change the lives of Sudanese people -- to actually create better future for coming generate as you know the former government create violence in the country,“ he said.
South Sudan offered to mediate between the parties of the Sudan’s crisis since the unrest led to the overthrow of longtime President Omar Bashir last April.
This followed former Bashir’s successful mediation of South Sudan peace talks in Khartoum in September.
According to the government, Kiir’s mediation efforts are aimed at finding a way to end the civil war in the Blue Nile and Darfur regions.
The states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan have large ethnic minority populations that fought alongside the South Sudanese during the country’s 21-year civil war.
