Sudan grants amnesty to leaders of rebel movements

The Sudanese government on Friday published a decree, granting full and unequivocal amnesty to dozens of rebel leaders and thousands of rebel elements, two days before a celebration marking the arrival of those leaders in Khartoum.

A month ago, the Sudanese government and 90 per cent of rebel movements, with the exception of two, concluded a peace deal under the supervision of President Salva Kiir and the blessing of the African Union and the UN, in Juba, South Sudan, known as the Juba peace agreement.

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The matrix of implementation say they have to come to Khartoum to celebrate the success of the deal with full government protection and visits to the various regional capitals without obstruction.

A vital element of the deal is to drop all charges, save genocide and questions being handled by the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other criminal charges of personal nature not a state-related case.

The Head of the Sudan Transitional Sovereign Council, Lt.-Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, on Thursday issued a general amnesty for all those who carried arms or participated in any of the military or war operations or participated in any act or statement related to combat operations against the army or the state or the regime.

The decree, number (249) for the year 2020, excludes those against whom arrest warrants have been issued by the ICC or who are facing criminal charges or lawsuits for the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Most of the leaders of the rebel movements were at one time or another declared guilty by the ousted regime of crime against the state, leading war against the “Islamic Sharia” which by definition meant at the time blasphemy and other serious charges punishable by death or life imprisonment. All those are now knocked out into the sinkhole.

Sunday, 15 November, has been declared a day off in Sudan to receive leaders of the armed movements in Khartoum and other areas of the country in a massive celebration. (NAN)