Sudan has for the first time accepted mediation by South Sudan's leader in peace talks over the restive Sudanese border regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, a Sudanese official said on Sunday.
Sudan had previously accused its southern neighbour of stoking unrest in the two regions, where rebels kept up a fight against Khartoum's rule even after most of the territory they fought for decades became independent South Sudan in 2011. Sudan's government has announced unilateral ceasefires in both regions as well as in Sudan's troubled western region of Darfur since 2015 and fighting has subsided.
Ibrahim al-Sadiq, a spokesman for Sudan's ruling party, said South Sudanese President Salva Kiir had begun talks with factions from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) present in South Kordofan and Blue Nile over a peace settlement. Peace talks under the aegis of the African Union were expected to take place in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, in mid-December, he said.