Sudan Kiir’s visit to US not related to trade sanctions

Nov 9, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — A senior official of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement SPLM has explained that the first vice-president of Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, did not visit Washington to discuss the sanctions imposed by the United States on Sudan.

Earlier media reports in Khartoum indicated that the vice-president went to the US to specifically ask the American Administration to lift sanctions it imposed on Sudan.

But the SPLM spokesman in northern Sudan, Walid Hamid, said the issue of sanctions was not on the agenda of Mr Kiir’s meetings with US officials. In a telephone interview with the independent Sudan Radio Service (SRS), Hamid explained why the vice-president visited the United States.

Hamid said that Kiir visited the United States as chairman of the SPLM and the president of the government of Southern Sudan. He discussed with the American Administration three main issues. One, is the status of the implementation the Comprehensive Peace Agreement; also the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Southern Sudan and; the return of Sudanese refugees.

The US Administration renewed its sanctions on Sudan, which coincided with Mr Kiir’s visit to Washington.

However, the minister of cabinet affairs, Deng Alor, says the SPLM opposes the US decision to renew the sanctions arguing that it might be misunderstood as it came during Kiir’s visit.

(SRS/ST)