Sudanese officials snub US special envoy

July 28, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The US special envoy to Sudan, Princeton Lyman, has yet to secure meetings with key officials in Khartoum in what seems to be a deliberate snub.

“The Sudanese Foreign Ministry received a request from the U.S. envoy before reaching Khartoum for meetings with Sudanese vice president, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Sudanese presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie, Sudanese foreign minister, Ali Karti, and the governor of Central Bank of Sudan” foreign ministry spokesperson Al-Obaid Marawih said.

“The foreign ministry has not received confirmation from those officials to meet with the envoy particularly since his arrival on Thursday coincided with the weekly meeting of the Sudanese Council of Ministers and the three officials are members of the Council” Marawih added.

He added that so far Lyman had only held talks on Thursday with the governor of the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) Mohamed Khair al-Zubeir. It is not clear if the US envoy will eventually manage to hold talks with the remaining officials before traveling to Juba and Addis Ababa.

This is the first visit by Lyman to Sudan following the independence of the Southern part of the country earlier this month. The peaceful vote by Southerners on self-determination and the eventual secession was hailed as a key accomplishment of the US administration.

The US State department said earlier this week that Lyman will urge leaders in Khartoum and Juba to restart stalled negotiations on post-secession issues related to border security, financial arrangements, and currency.

Lyman “will also press the parties for an immediate end to conflict and unfettered humanitarian access in the Southern Kordofan region of Sudan”.

Washington pledged to begin a process of normalising ties with Sudan if the latter recognises the new state and implements key items of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended more than two decades of the North-South civil war.

Earlier this year, the US started reviewing Sudan’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism and it was expected that the East African nation would be removed from the list as early as this month.

However, the de-listing appears to have been stalled by clashes that erupted in South Kordofan between the Sudanese army and Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) units as well Khartoum’s military takeover of Abyei which is a contested oil-rich region that lies on the North-South borders.

Countries on the list of state sponsors of terrorism cannot receive US aid or buy US weapons and a raft of restrictions on financial and other dealings. The list currently includes Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria.

US officials made it clear that lifting the comprehensive economic sanctions imposed in 1997 is contingent upon resolving the crisis in Darfur.

Despite that, the US announced in October of last year that it was easing sanctions on agriculture equipment and services.

Sudanese official nonetheless consistently slam the US for what they perceive as foot dragging in normalising relations despite numerous pledges.

In a related issue, Sudan said that US authorities refused to grant a visa to its sports and youth minister, Haj Magid Siwar, for unknown reasons. The minister said he notified the foreign ministry of this action taken by the embassy in Khartoum.

He was scheduled to participate in the UN Youth Conference that is taking place in New York this week.

Siwar expressed surprise saying that the denial is “incompatible with the ideals, values and norms among youths, voluntary and community entities for young people and athletes”.

(ST)