Peace finally returning to Sudan and South Sudan as rebels give up arms and in a thaw of relations

Several thousand former South Sudanese rebels have surrendered to the government and returned home from alleged rear bases in neighboring Sudan, government and rebel officials in the south said on Friday.

The South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), one of the largest rebel groups in the new country, and two other militia groups said they had accepted an amnesty offer from President Salva Kiir.

South Sudan’s army said some 3,000 rebels crossed the border from Sudan where they were believed to have training bases, along with 100 vehicles, including 37 trucks mounted with machine guns and anti-aircraft guns.

“Our forces have joined the peace process with the South Sudan army,” SSLA spokesman Gordon Buay said.

Sudan’s army spokesman al-Sawarmi Khalid declined to comment, saying only that international peacekeepers monitoring the border could confirm any crossing.

Tension has plagued ties between the two countries since their messy divorce following a peace deal in 2005 that ended more than 20 years of civil war, with deadly border clashes breaking out a year ago.

South Sudan’s army spokesman Philip Aguer said the rebel surrender might be linked to this month’s visit of Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir to Juba during which he pledged to normalize relations.

“This is a significant development toward improved relations between Sudan and South Sudan. It shows that concrete deals were signed during Bashir’s recent visit to Juba (the capital of South Sudan),” said Jonah Leff, a regional analyst for the Small Arms Survey.

Source: Reuters