Sudan’s President Omer Al Bashir has issued a decree dropping death sentences against 66 convicts and granting an offer of amnesty to 193 others.
The decree released on Wednesday, targeted prisoners of war convicted of participating in attacks against the government by the Darfur rebel groups from 2008 until 2014.
“This is not the first time the president issues a general amnesty in order to achieve peace and accord. In 2006, the president pardoned all members of the armed movements signatories of the Abuja Peace Agreement,” the decree reads in part.
The decree also states that the release is “to promote national accord and create a climate conducive for sustainable peace” in response to suggestions from the National Dialogue.
Sudan has been fighting rebellions in Darfur since 2003 and South Kordofan and Blue Nile States since 2011. One of the rebel movements, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North released more than 100 prisoners of war from the Sudanese army.
Photo: Sudan president Omar Al-Bashir (Credit: UN/Eskinder Debebe)