Sudan resumes talks with USA over Guantanamo detainees

KHARTOUM, July 18 (AFP) — Khartoum said Monday that it had resumed negotiations with Washington aimed at releasing an unspecified number of Sudanese nationals being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

This 2003 US Navy photo shows Al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees in orange jumpsuits sitting in a holding area at Camp X-Ray at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (AFP).

“The conditions now are better than before for resuming dialogue with the US on the question of the Sudanese detainees,” Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail told reporters.

Relations between Khartoum and Washington were soured in particular by the rebellion in Sudan’s western Darfur region, with America labelling atrocities committed there as genocide.

“We hope that we will be able to free the largest number of the detainees, if not all of them, in the coming period,” said Ismail.

He said previous negotiations with the US had already resulted in the release of an unspecified number of Sudanese.

There are an estimated 520 detainees being held at the US military base at Guantanamo, most of them without charge or trial.