General amnesty will be issued soon in Khartoum to those willing to lay down their guns against the government, a top ruling party official said. The proclamation would presumably encourage wavering members of armed groups in Darfur, Kordofan or Blue Nile to surrender peacefully.

Ahmed Ibrahim Al Tahir, speaker of the national legislative assembly, revealed that the general amnesty was a measure that emerged from extensive consultations among the President of the Republic Omar Al Bashir, his defence minister and the director of the intelligence and security service.

In a statement yesterday, the parliament speaker affirmed that the general amnesty will be issued to all peaceseekers among those who are still bearing arms against the Khartoum government, opening the door for a brotherly welcome to rejoin the government.

“Whoever comes and throws down his gun will be warmly welcomed to live peacefully in his country and will be absorbed into either statutory forces or civil bodies,” Al Tahir stressed.

He said they want those who bear arms to be aware of the initiative in order for them to cease their hostility against the Sudanese state.

“We don’t want people to continue with a losing war which has neither goals nor a future, and be fuel for an agenda which is not their agenda. Let them return to the bosom of their nation and abandon the ravages of a leadership that led only to battles and destruction,” Al Tahir stated.