Sudan’s al-Burhan says Four Freedoms effective from tomorrow

JUBA – Sudan’s military ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has directed all government agencies in Sudan to activate the ‘Four Freedoms’ agreed upon with South Sudan in 2012 from Saturday, according to several government officials in Khartoum.

Earlier today, South Sudan Presidential Advisor on Security Affairs and chief mediator of the Sudanese peace talks, Tutkew Gatluak, announced that the government of South Sudan will no longer require entry visa for Sudanese nationals as part of South Sudan’s commitment to the cooperation agreement.

Sudanese government and the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) are expected to sign a landmark peace agreement tomorrow in Juba to end decades-long conflict which has killed hundreds of thousands in west and southern parts of the country.

“Al-Burhan will announce the decision to activate the agreement during his speech at the signing ceremony of the peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the Revolutionary Front, which will be witnessed by several African and Arab leaders tomorrow in Juba,” one source at the Sudanese Presidency told Sudans Post’s Nancy Abdel Rahman in Khartoum moments ago.

“The President of Sovereign Council has already directed all government agencies that dealing with South Sudanese must be in line with the Four Freedoms enshrined in the cooperation agreement of 2012 from Saturday,” the official said

Another senior government official said only South Sudanese nationals arriving from other countries will be required to obtained entry visa upon arrival at Khartoum International Airport.

In September 2012, South Sudan government and the former NCP government of Omar al Bashir signed the Cooperation Agreement in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The agreement provides for the four freedoms: ” “freedom of residence, freedom of movement, freedom to undertake economic activity and freedom to acquire and dispose property.”