British envoy says Sudan’s opposition would likely join peace roadmap
June 30, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – British Ambassador to Sudan on Thursday expected that the Sudanese opposition groups would sign the African Union brokered Roadmap Agreement during a meeting for the Sudan Call forces to be held soon in Addis Ababa.
Earlier this month, following a meeting with the U.S. envoys and the other western envoys, the opposition groups maintained their rejection but the accepted to join the peace plan if a supplemental text is added. They also said they would meet the AU chief mediator.
Ambassador Michael Aron on Thursday met with the Presidential Assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid 24 hours after a meeting with the U.S. Special Envoy, discuss ways to overcome the obstacles facing the Roadmap and achieve peace in Sudan.
According to the official news agency SUNA, Aron reiterated UK’s support to the efforts of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to encourage the holdout opposition groups to ink the peace plan.
He further said the opposition is likely to sign the Roadmap Agreement fter a meeting the Sudan Call forces would hold with Mbeki in Addis Ababa in the near future, SUNA added.
On Wednesday, Hamid who is also the chief negotiator for the talks with the SPLM-N said he told the American envoy that his government rejects the supplemental agreement proposed by the opposition groups.
In a related development, the National Dialogue Secretary General, Hashim Ali Salim received in his office Thursday the Political Secretary at the British Embassy in Khartoum, David Poster. The meeting discussed the ongoing preparation for the National Dialogue General Assembly which will take place on August 6, 2016.
In a press statement released after the meeting, Salim said the British diplomat disclosed that his country is in contact with the holdout groups to bring them to join the general assembly.
“We told him we are waiting the holdout to join the conference,” he said.
He further said that he briefed the British diplomat about the idea of national dialogue from the beginning till now, (the ongoing) arrangements for convening the General Assembly on the sixth of next August and the determination of the date of closing session of the General Assembly.
(ST)