Many of the rebel groups that refused to lay down arms after the 2019 overthrow of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir have recently signed peace agreements with the new government, but others with more hardline positions have remained ambivalent about giving up the fight.
According to a Monday report by Sudan's Radio Dabanga, Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdul Wahid (SLM-AW) leader Abdelwahid El Nur is preparing to join the peace talks with Khartoum other rebel groups entered earlier this year.
Several other rebel leaders from the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a loose alliance between rebel groups in Darfur and the Blue Nile-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), penned a peace deal with Khartoum in October that Nur rejected at the time.
According to the Associated Press, the October deal provides self-rule for the provinces of Blue Nile, South Kordofan and West Kordofan, where much of the fighting over the last 17 years has taken place, and integrates the SRF militias into the Sudanese military.
As the SRF leaders arrived in Khartoum on Sunday, Sudanese Prime Minister Abddalla Hamdok hailed the “true launching” of the peace process.
Another major rebel holdout, Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu of the SLPM-N, Sudan's largest single rebel group, has also entered peace talks. The Sudan Tribune reported earlier this month that the secular SLM/A had rejected proposals from the government in Khartoum they felt did not adequately…
