pressure, it finally accepted the peacekeeping operation in Darfur. In 2009 the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir, accusing him of crimes against humanity and war crimes. In 2009 and 2010 a series of conflicts between rival nomadic tribes in South Kordofan caused a large number of casualties and displaced thousands. An agreement for the restoration of harmony between Chad and Sudan, signed January 15, 2010, marked the end of a five-year war between them. The Sudanese government and the JEM signed a ceasefire agreement ending the Darfur conflict in February, 2010. In January 2011, a referendum on independence for Southern Sudan was held, and the South voted overwhelmingly to secede later that year as the Republic of South Sudan, with its capital at Juba and Kiir Mayardit as its first president. Al-Bashir announced that he accepted the result, but violence soon erupted in the disputed region of Abyei, claimed by both the North and the South. On June 6, 2011 armed conflict broke out in South Kordofan between the forces of Northern and Southern Sudan, ahead of the scheduled independence of the South on July 9. This was followed by an agreement for both sides to withdraw from Abyei. On 20 June, the parties agreed to demilitarize the contested area of Abyei, where Ethiopian peacekeepers would be deployed. On July 9, 2011, South Sudan became an independent country. After Omar al-Bashir (2019-present) In April 2019, after several months of sustained street protests Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir was ousted. Since the fall of his government, the country has been ruled by the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, made up of both military and civilian representatives as the highest power in the transitional period. Until the next Sudanese General Elections, planned for 2022, the country is to be jointly led by the Chairman of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok. Following al-Bashir's removal from power, street protests organised by the Sudanese Professionals Association and democratic opposition groups continued, calling on the ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC) to "immediately and unconditionally" step aside in favour of a civilian-led transitional government, and urging other reforms in Sudan. Negotiations between the TMC and the civilian opposition to form a joint transition government took place during late April and in May, but stopped when the Rapid Support Forces and other TMC security forces killed 128 people in