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Al-Bashir extends cease-fire to end of 2016 across Sudan's conflict zones

Xinhua, October 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Monday decided to extend a cease-fire across all conflict zones in the country until the end of this year.

"I declare the extension of the cease-fire until the end of the current year in all conflict areas," al-Bashir told the concluding session of Sudan's national dialogue conference in Khartoum.

Al-Bashir, who was handed the national document of the dialogue, which was approved by the conference, vowed to implement all the recommendations upon which the participants have agreed.

He said he would consult with all political forces in the country to form a mechanism to implement the national document, build a strategy to reform state institutions and also to set up a comprehensive national mechanism to formulate a permanent constitution.

The presidents of Egypt, Mauritania, Uganda and Chad attended the dialogue's closing session.

The dialogue's final national document covers principles of rule, public freedoms, identity, peace, unity, economy and external relations. It will be the base for the country's permanent constitution.

In January 2014, al-Bashir declared an initiative calling on the opposition parties and the armed groups to join a national dialogue to end the country's crises.

The sessions of the dialogue kicked off in October 2015 in a bid to resolve the country's political and social issues, with the participation of a number of Sudanese political parties, civil society organizations and some Darfur armed groups.

However, major political parties and armed movements refused to participate in the conference, including the Revolutionary Front Alliance, which brings together the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector and major Darfur armed movements.

Darfur armed groups and the SPLM/northern sector insist that a preparatory conference should be held, according to decisions of the African Union Peace and Security Council and the United Nations Security Council, to bring together all the Sudanese political forces to agree on procedures to initiate an equitable dialogue with the government, a demand that the Sudanese government rejects. Endit