Top U.S. diplomat for Africa travels to Sudan to support dialogue

January 14, 2022 (WASHINGTON) – The U.S. Assistant Secretary for Africa will visit Sudan in the coming days to support the UN initiative to end the ongoing crisis triggered by the coup of last October, the State Department said on Friday.

“U.S. top diplomat Assistant Secretary Molly Phee and newly appointed Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa David Satterfield will travel to Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Ethiopia from January 17 to 20, 2022,” reads a statement released in Washington.

The statement said that Phee will participate in a meeting of the Friends of Sudan that will be held in Riyadh to mobilize international support for the UNITAMS efforts to facilitate an intra-Sudanese dialogue.

The U.S. top diplomat for African and the special envoy for the Horn, after the meeting, will travel to Khartoum where they will meet Sudan’s military leaders, political figures, women, youth, and civil society groups.

“Their message will be clear: the United States is committed to freedom, peace, and justice for the Sudanese people,” stressed the statement.

Earlier this month, the former Prime Minister resigned after his failure to bring the political groups to reach a political declaration and stop the bloody crackdown on protesters by the security forces.

Volker Perthes, UNIMAS chief, says he would hold individual consultations with the Sudanese parties and will convene later on a Sudanese-led process if he finds common grounds between the Sudanese stakeholders.

The Sudanese political forces and the military rulers welcomed the proposed process, except one of the two factions of the Sudanese Professionals Association.

For its part, the National Charter coalition formed by former Darfur groups supporting the coup called to form a caretaker government on Thursday.

The Forces for Freedom and Change groups are expected to hold a press conference Saturday to give more details about their proposals for an exit strategy for the coup leaders.

(ST)