Sudan welcomes rebels to Khartoum

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok welcomed rebel leaders to the capital Khartoum on Sunday, as crowds celebrated what they hoped was the end of war following a landmark peace deal.

"We have been looking forward to this day," Hamdok said as he greeted the leaders, according to a broadcast by the official news agency SUNA. "Today we are taking the first steps to put an end to the suffering of our people."

It was the first time the leaders of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of rebel and political groups, had come to the capital since the signing of an October 3 peace agreement in neighbouring South Sudan. "We have come to put the peace agreement into effect on the ground," said Minni Minawi, who leads a faction of the Darfur-based Sudan Liberation Movement, according to Suna.