Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly attended, on Saturday, the signing ceremony for the long-awaited peace agreement between Sudan’s transitional government and the Sudan Revolutionary Front. The signing ceremony for the milestone peace deal took place in South Sudan’s capital, Juba.
The landmark deal is aimed at ending decades of conflicts in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile. Its terms include the integration of rebel groups into the Sudanese security forces, and allocating a fund to support the impoverished southern and western regions, among other conditions.
In his speech from Juba, Madbouly praised the comprehensive peace agreement, saying that it is the start of a new era for Sudan, and as a result the country is full of hope for stability and prosperity.
He affirmed, “The implementation of the deal’s terms is more significant than signing it,” adding that the deal includes political, economic, security, and social obligations on all signing parties.
The Egyptian Prime Minister noted that the deal has also set commitments on those, in the regional and international communities, who are keen on Sudan’s interests. It will encourage them to pay all possible efforts to support the post-peace deal process.
Meanwhile, Madbouly said Egypt appreciated the efforts made by South Sudan since the start of the negotiations.
The Prime Minister arrived in South Sudan accompanied by a high-level Egyptian delegation that includes Head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service (GIS), Abbas Kamel.
The guarantors to the deal, which include Egypt, Chad, Qatar, the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), and the European Union (EU), all signed the deal.
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdouk, the Sudan Sovereignty Council Chief Abdel Fattah El-Burhan, and Deputy Chief of the Sudan joint military-civilian sovereign council General Hamdan Dagalo, also attended the ceremony.
The ceremony was attended by numerous heads of state, including Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the UAE’s Minister of Energy Suhail Al Mazrouei, and the US Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth. Also in attendance were the heads of state from Chad, Djibouti and Somalia, as well as representatives from some Western countries.
In a statement upon his arrival to Juba on Friday, Hamdouk said that the peace deal will open up broad horizons for development, progress and prosperity in the country.
“It will open a new page that put an end to wars and the suffering of our people in displacement and asylum camps,” he said.
Late in August, the Sudanese transitional government and rebel leaders signed a preliminary peace deal following months of negotiations. The deal took place amid hopes to resolve a devastating regional conflict that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions.
The Sudan Revolutionary Front, which signed the deal, is a coalition of several armed groups that includes the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) headed by Minni Arko Minnawi, the Justice and Equality Movement headed by Gibril Ibrahim, and the Sudan Liberation Movement-Transitional Council headed by Al-Hadi Idris Yahia, the Sudanese news agency SUNA reported.
However, Abdelwahid Nour, who led a faction from the Sudan Liberation Movement in Darfur, and Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North in Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan declined to take part in the peace negotiations.
