Kadugli, September 22 ( Darfur 24) Identical sources revealed to Darfur24 a meeting between senior military officers from the 14th Infantry Division of the Sudanese army in Kadugli with officers from the Popular Movement North, headed by Abdel Aziz Akhir, last week.
A military source, who requested to remain anonymous, told Darfur 24 that officers from the Kadugli Military Garrison Command met twice with officers from the SPLM in an area near Kadugli. He added that in the first meeting, which was held in the middle of this month, the army officers received a letter from the Chief of Staff of the People’s Army, Izzat Koko, to Military Command in Kadugli, and the source explained that the two parties agreed to another meeting this week to receive the response of the armed forces.
A military source in the SPLM confirmed that the meeting took place, and described it as an initiative by the military leadership of the army in Kadugli that communicated with intermediary leaders in the movement without giving details.
Last week, the SPLM suddenly stopped the armed attack on the city of Kadugli, which it launched in mid-August, without declaring a ceasefire between the two parties.
The Sudan Tribune website published at the beginning of this month that the Chairman of the Sovereignty Council, Army Commander Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, met with the head of the SPLM-N, Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu, in Asmara, on Monday, and asked him to fight alongside the army against the Rapid Support Forces.
Meanwhile, the movement’s spokesman, Jaber Kamandan Kumi, denied the meeting and said in a press statement that the movement’s leader, Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu, did not meet with the Sudanese army commander, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, in Asmara or anywhere else.