The "declaration of principles" signed with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) faction lays out priorities including the unification of armed forces and the establishment of a democratic, secular state with freedom of religion.
It was signed by Sudanese head of state General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Abdelaziz al-Hilu, head of the SPLM-N wing.
The group is based in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile in the country's south. The signing took place in South Sudanese capital Juba.
'The next thing is the two parties will resume talks three weeks from now,' mediation team official Ramadan Goch told AFP.
'They are now going to organise their teams and prepare to resume the peace talks.'
The transitional government in Khartoum, which includes soldiers and civilians installed after the 2019 overthrow of Omar al-Bashir
...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Hee was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it...
's 30-year dictatorship, have made peace with the country's rebel groups a priority.
A historic agreement was signed in October with the Sudan Revolutionary Front, an alliance of rebel groups from the Darfur, Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan regions.
A branch of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdelwahid Nour in Darfur refused to sign.
Al-Hilu's SPLM-North signed a separate ceasefire, allowing its fighters to keep their weapons for "self-protection" until the Sudanese constitution is amended to guarantee separation of state and religion.
South Kordofan and to a lesser extent Blue Nile state have significant Christian populations who have fought for decades to end the imposition of Islamic law by Khartoum.