Sudan’s President Omar Al Bashir announced on Thursday, that he will be extending the ceasefire in areas of armed conflict for one month. He also renewed the call for armed movements to join the national dialogue. The process ends on 10 February.
In a speech marking the anniversary of Sudanese independence, Bashir pledged that the national dialogue is to be “a purely Sudanese dialogue that will remain within the borders of the country”.
However, the opposition Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) downplayed Al Bashir’s announcement, branding it as “worthless and for political consumption only”.
JEM leader Ahmed Tugod Lisan told Radio Dabanga that the government did not have the desire to stop the war. He said that “Al Bashir’s declared a ceasefire is a lie; has not put a stop the war, yet sends an improbable announcement to the armed movements that the regime is willing to stop the war.”
As reported by Radio Dabanga today, Al Bashir’s announcement comes, mystifyingly, at the same time as a flare-up of hostilities in Darfur’s Jebel Marra over the last three days. A large force of Sudanese Army troops, backed by artillery and aerial bombardments, and supported by troops of the Rapid Support Force (RSF) militia, have launched fierce attacks on villages in Jebel Marra, and clashed with the mainstream Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid El Nur (SLM-AW).