Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday extended a unilateral ceasefire with rebels until the end of March, state news agency SUNA reported.

The purpose of the unilateral truce was an attempt to create a conducive environment for talks brokered by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to end the conflict in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, and in the Darfur region.

Fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and rebels in South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions in 2011. Conflict in Darfur started in 2003.

The ceasefire was set to expire at the end of December