All set for signing of final Sudan Peace Agreement

South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit will on Saturday mediate and witness the final signing of the Sudan Peace Agreement aimed at restoring sanity in Khartoum.

A statement released by the Office of the President - Republic of South Sudan said President Kiir inspected the venues for the signing ceremony to crosscheck the ongoing preparations for the occasion slated for Saturday in Juba.

According to the statement, Kiir inspected the John Garang Museleom, Freedom Hall and Juba International Airport. 

The Press Secretary in the Office of the President, Ateny Wek Ateny, said that "the President was satisfied with the work done at the sites for the occasion of the Final signing of the Sudan Peace Agreement".

Ateny Wek Ateny also said President Kiir was ready to initiate the final signing of the Sudan Peace Agreement on Saturday.

"The head of the Mediation Committee for Sudan Peace Talks, Tut Gatluak, briefed President Salva Kiir on the arrangements for the final signing of the Sudanese Peace Agreement on the 3rd of October 2020, between the Sudanese Transitional Government and revolutionary movements in Juba under the mediation process of President Salva Kiir Mayardit," the statement said. 

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Tut Gatluak said that he briefed President Salva Kiir on his recent official visits to Sudan, Arab Republic of Egypt and Chad, where he presented President Salva Kiir official invitation to his counterparts to come to Juba for the final signing of the Sudanese Peace Agreement.

The Saturday peace deal will be a follow-up of the one signed on August 31, where Sudan's government and the main rebel alliance agreed on a peace deal to end 17 years of conflict.
 
The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of rebel groups from the western region of Darfur and the southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, signed the peace agreement at a ceremony in Juba, the capital of neighbouring South Sudan, which has hosted and helped mediate the long-running talks since late 2019.

The agreement covers key issues around security, land ownership, transitional justice, power-sharing, and the return of people who fled their homes because of war, according to Aljazeera.

It also provides for the dismantling of rebel forces and the integration of their fighters into the national army.

The deal was looked at as a significant step in the transitional leadership's goal of resolving multiple, deeply rooted civil conflicts.

Aljazeera also reported that the August peace deal was welcomed by the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway welcomed the peace agreement as a first step in rebuilding stability in the country.

About 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since rebels took up arms there in 2003, according to the United Nations.

Conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile erupted in 2011, following unresolved issues from bitter fighting there in Sudan's 1983-2005 civil war, Aljazeera reported.

However, two rebel factions refused to take part in the deal.