Sudan's peace agreement signed last week finally promises to end the devastating wars in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile that have cost hundreds of thousands of lives, but as Alex de Waal and Edward Thomas explain, it comes with a huge price tag. The deal was negotiated between the transitional government and a coalition of rebel leaders in South Sudan's capital, Juba. Its strength is the goodwill on both sides.Its weakness is that Sudan is trying a bold experiment in democracy in the middle of intersecting crises with practically no international help. In August 2019, Sudanese military and civilian leaders agreed to cohabit in a transitional government, fulfilling a central demand of the protesters who had overthrown the 30-year dictatorship of President Omar al-Bashir. A top priority was ending the wars that had long ravaged Sudan's peripheries. The rebels were confident that those in the civilian cabinet, led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, were sincere. They did not trust the generals, especially Lt-Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagolo, known as "Hemeti", whose paramilitaries had waged terrifying counter-insurgency campaigns.The agreement was reached after almost a year of peace talks.