Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Thursday vowed to achieve peace in Sudan’s war zones as he visited rebel stronghold Kauda, reported Reuters.
Prime Minister Hamdok is the first senior Khartoum official to travel to the rebel area since clashes resumed in the area more than eight years ago. He was accompanied by five Cabinet ministers, the head of the U.N. World Food Programme and American, British and Norwegian diplomats.
Kauda is located 90km (56 miles) east of South Kordofan state capital Kadugli. It is the base of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), the main group fighting the government in the southern provinces of Blue Nile and South Kordofan.
Last year in October Sudan’s transitional government started peace talks with rebel groups from the country’s three conflict zones – Darfur, Blue Nile, and South Kordofan. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in fighting in the three war zones, mainly in the western region of Darfur. The rebel groups have observed a ceasefire since the overthrow of former dictator Omar Al-Bashir in April last year.
Abdelaziz Al-Hilu, leader of a wing of the SPLM-N, had invited Hamdok to Kauda during peace talks with other rebel militias in Juba.
Hamdok called the visit historical and said he hoped it would be a start to achieve sustainable peace in the country and to end the suffering of the people.
“This is a great chance to show our people in Kauda and across the world that their transitional government is working hard to achieve comprehensive justice and peace,” the Sudanese prime minister said on Twitter.
He said Khartoum’s new authorities were working towards providing “more aid to areas that are affected by wars and were marginalised for decades”.
Hamdok aims to end the conflicts, stabilize the country and help to lead it out of the economic crisis by cutting military spending.
