Sudan’s VP Taha heads to Saudi Arabia on Monday
January 9, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese 2nd Vice president Ali Osman Taha will fly to Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks with officials there including Crown Prince Sultan Abdel-Aziz who is running the country while his brother King Abdulla undergoes medical treatment in the United States.
Saudi newspapers quoted the Sudanese ambassador to Riyadh Abdel-Hafiz Ibrahim Mohamed as saying that the visit is of special importance given the high-level delegation Taha is leading.
The Sudanese VP will be accompanied by foreign minister Ali Karti, Agriculture minister Abdel-Halim Al-Mutaa’fi, state minister at the presidency Idriss Mohamed Abdel-Gadir, state minister at the cabinet headquarters Mohamed Al-Mukhtar Hassan Hussein.
The envoy added that the visit is the first and most senior one since the start of the South Sudan referendum on Sunday. Millions of Southerners casted their ballots today to decide on whether the region should remain united with the rest of the country or establish their own state.
It is widely believed that Southerners feeling decades of marginalization will vote for secession. The right of self-determination was given to them by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Ambassador Abdel-Hafiz said that this comes in recognition of his game Kingdom of the role played by Saudi Arabia which has contributed to strengthening of Sudan’s capacity in addressing the many challenges that affected its security and stability because Saudi Arabia enjoys both respect and clout at the regional and international levels.
Taha will also perform Umra rituals in Mecca and also visit the prophet’s mosque in Medina.
Saudi Arabia has shown little public interest in Sudan’s affairs in the past but it is believed that the influential state wanted Sudan to be united in line with the sentiment in the Arab world.
Last November, the Saudi foreign minister Saud Al-Faisal said the upcoming referendum on Sudan’s secession must be conducted in a fair and transparent manner.
“It is not justified that the Arab League sits on the fence about what happens in Sudan, especially as we are going to have an imminent Arab-African meeting, which requires addressing this situation within the framework of Arab-African solidarity,” he told an emergency meeting of the Arab League.
Opposing the division of Sudan, he said it would not serve the interests of any party. “In our view neither the interest of Sudan nor those of the rival parties can be achieved by the dangerous move of division,” he pointed out.
Some Arab states such as Egypt and Libya have made public statement blaming the Sudanese government by president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir of being responsible for the country’s breakup.
(ST)