Sudanese rivals sign agreement to separate state from religion

CAIRO — On March 28, head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) leader Abdelaziz al-Hilu signed the Declaration of Principles agreement in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, under the mediation of South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit, director of the World Food Program David Beasley and a number of Western observers.

Analysts described this agreement as a historical and powerful step on the road to stability in Sudan, turning the page of war forever and moving forward on the path to peace, particularly since the agreement included several provisions, most notably the separation of religion and state.

The SPLM-N is popular in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan provinces. The movement was engaged in armed confrontations with the Omar al-Bashir regime from the 1980s until he was ousted in April 2019 as a result of the violence committed by the Bashir regime against its non-Muslim population. Meanwhile, Bashir had failed to storm the movement's headquarters in the town of Kauda on several occasions, since the movement was always a step ahead with its abundant weapons and military equipment.

Mohamed El-Shazly, former Egyptian ambassador to Khartoum, told Al-Monitor that the Declaration of Principles agreement is a serious step on the road to building a state governed by the Sudanese Constitution and law, specifically since the agreement included the separation of religion and state. He stressed that this separation would increase the unity and stability of the State of Sudan, particularly since the SPLM-N was the one that led the war and the struggle for the secession of South Sudan, and thus its involvement under the umbrella of the Sudanese state will allow for a large military force to join the Sudanese army in the future.