Khartoum renews call for Washington to press rebels to join national dialogue

February 9, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s presidential assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid and government chief negotiator for peace talks with the SPLM-N has called on the United States administration to put further pressures on the rebel groups to join the National Dialogue Conference.

Hamid, who met the US charge d’affaires in Khartoum, Ambassador Jerry Lanier, Tuesday, urged the Washington to exercise more pressure on the armed movements to join the national dialogue particularly as it is nearing its end.

His call comes one day after the Sudanese foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour asked a delegation from the US Institute of Peace (USIP) and officials from the German institution for mediation, Berghof Foundation, to exert pressure on the rebels to join the peace process.

Hamid stressed that the participants in the dialogue conference have shown seriousness to achieve the best solutions for the Sudan’s problems.

The American administration demands Khartoum to end armed conflicts in the two Areas and Darfur and to sign peace agreement with the armed groups as prerequisite for lifting of economic sanctions against Sudan.

International and regional mediators have been brokering different process to end Darfur conflict since 2003 and the conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states since 2011.

Last month, the warring parties in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile concluded informal meetings in Berlin and Addis Ababa with no sign of progress toward an agreement ending the conflicts.

Meanwhile, the meeting underscored the importance to continue efforts to overcome the differences and normalize relations between the two countries.

Washington imposed economic and trade sanctions on Sudan in 1997 in response to its alleged connection to terror networks and human rights abuses. In 2007 it strengthened the embargo, citing abuses in Darfur which it labelled as genocide.

Sudan has been on the US list of countries supporting terrorism since 1993, for allegedly providing support and safe haven for terrorist groups.

Since late last year, the two countries have engaged in talks to chart the path for normalization of relations between the two countries.

Sudan says Washington didn’t honour its pledges to lift Sudan from the United States list of state sponsors of terrorism after the independence of South Sudan and kept sanctions for political reasons.

But Washington says Khartoum has to end the armed conflict in South Darfur and Blue Nile states and to settle Darfur crisis.

(ST)