The Sudan Transition Sovereign Council led by Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has expressed optimism of realizing a deal with the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) on opening up humanitarian corridors across the conflict stricken country.

The two parties have had disagreement on the critical issue, with the government limiting humanitarian access for only North Kordofan and Blue Nile regions, while the SPLM-N wants humanitarian access for all regions of the country.

Jamal Malik, the Sudan Ambassador to South Sudan, said that they are slowly making progress on key points of disagreement.

“We have agreed that SPLM-N will study our proposal and reply on Saturday, there are differences but we hope that will be the last session, so that we reach amicable solution and agreement, we hope to sign agreement that will help our people in need in the conflict affected areas,” Malik told journalists in Juba on Friday.

The talks between the Sudanese parties being mediated by the South Sudan government commenced on May 16.

Amar Amoun Deldoum, Secretary General for the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North SPLM-N said all Sudanese citizens need urgent humanitarian access, adding that they hope the Sudan government to agree to their demands.

“Our position is that the whole of Sudan is in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, and for us in SPLM-N we cannot reject any solution to such humanitarian problems, all Sudanese citizens need urgent support whether in Khartoum, Gezira, Darfur and all other areas in Sudan,” Deldoum said.

Ramadan Mohamed Abdallah Goc, South Sudan’s minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, said they are focused on pushing the parties to reach agreement within a few days so that humanitarian access is guaranteed to people in need.

He said that Juba has agreed to open up it’s border with Sudan to enable unhindered humanitarian access to it’s neighbor.

“All of you know that in Sudan there is crisis and there are different armed groups in Sudan, war is not only between two parties, so each and every group there are areas under it’s control, so all organizations that want to send food assistance to Sudan they want to make sure that this humanitarian assistance can reach the needy on time,” Goc said.

“There are so many issues of disagreement between the parties, but we do believe that this is not the right time, all we want from these parties is to agree on humanitarian access so that we can call on the international community to bring in more funds so that food and non-food items can reach people in Sudan,” he added.

In October 2020, the SPLM-N refused to sign the peace deal between the Sudanese government and five other armed opposition groups in Juba, demanding a democratic and secular state with freedom of religion.