KHARTOUM, 5 February 2021 – Three representatives of armed rebel groups have been appointed to top positions in the interim Sudanese government as part of the peace deal signed last year.
The transition government was formed after street protests forced the military to topple longtime Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019.
The Sovereign Council appointed Alhadji Idris Yehia, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement, Malik Agar, head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction in the Blue Nile state, and Al-Taher Abu Bakr Hagar, leader of Sudan Liberation Forces.
The protests that toppled the regime of Omar al-Bashir – Photo ABC News
Sudanese celebrate the fall of al-Bashir – Photo Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah
The fhtre are members of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, an alliance of armed groups mostly based in Western Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions.
The three join eleven other members of the ruling Sovereign Council formed in 2019 in a power-sharing arrangement between armed groups, the military, civil society who spear-headed the five-month uprising that toppled al-Bashir.
The authorities in Khartoum are yet to reach a similar deal with two other key armed factions, including the largest single rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement-North led by Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu, and the Sudan Liberation Movement Army, led by Abdel-Wahid Nour.
The peace deal signed last October in Juba after months of negotiations granted self-rule to the southern provinces of Blue Nile, South Kordofan and West Kordofan and called for the integration of rebel forces there into the reform Sudan’s armed forces.
Rebel groups were also promised 75 legislative seats in a transitional parliament that is yet to be formed.
