Sudan and a key rebel group that had previously refused to join other opposition forces to sign a peace deal have signed their own agreement.
Sudan official news agency SUNA said on Friday the Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and rebel chief Abdelaziz al-Hilu signed the peace deal in the neighboring country, Ethiopia.
The news agency posted the pictures of the two men smiling and shaking hands.
The peace deal was a big deal since Hilu, a veteran guerilla fighter who leads a faction of Sudan’s People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) had been one of the two rebel leaders who rejected an earlier peace deal with Khartoum.
Terms of the agreement
While Khartoum and Hilu agreed to ease the tension, the deal allows the rebels to keep hold of their guns for “self-protection” until the constitution of Sudan is changed to separate religion and government.
“For Sudan to become a democratic country where the rights of all citizens are enshrined, the constitution should be based on the principle of ‘separation of religion and state’, in the absence of which the right to self-determination must be respected,” said a copy of the deal.
The Thursday agreement follows a deal signed on Monday in Juba with leaders of a coalition of rebel forces, the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF).
The SRF brings together rebels from the war-ravaged western Darfur region, as well as the southern states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where Hilu’s SPLM-N is based.
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The deal means only one key group remains fighting – a wing of the Darfur-based Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) led by Abdelwahid Nour.
Conflict in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile began in 2011 seceded, resuming a war that ran from 1983-2005.
Rebels fought troops deployed, who is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Related: Four South Sudan Soldier Killed By Uganda’s Military Officers
