AFP – Sudan and rebels in South Kordofan would adopt an immediate ceasefire and allow aid to reach more than one million people, says a proposed agreement issued as peace talks broke off last week.
AFP obtained a copy of the draft on Sunday.
African Union mediators presented the proposal for Khartoum and rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) on Tuesday, when the talks in Ethiopia adjourned after both combatants traded accusations.
There are no figures for how many people have died in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, where the rebels have been fighting for nearly three years, but the United Nations says an estimated 1.2 million have been displaced or otherwise affected.
Sudanese authorities have restricted access to the war zones for aid workers, journalists and foreign diplomats, although relief has reached people in government-controlled areas.
There has been no aid access into SPLM-N zones from within Sudan since 2011, and a senior UN official said last year that people were surviving on “roots and leaves”.
Several days of negotiation – the first in nearly a year – failed to make progress in halting the fighting, but a source close to the talks said both sides left to study the draft agreement, dated 18 February.
The rebels and government would “cease all hostilities unconditionally”, under the proposal.
“The Parties shall facilitate the immediate and safe delivery and movement of humanitarian assistance to all affected persons,“ it says.
