Sudan’s generals, U.S diplomats agree on need for inclusive dialogue

January 20, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s military rulers Thursday said they agreed with the visiting U.S undersecretary for Africa on the need to hold an inclusive roundtable and form a civilian-led government to complete the transition tasks.

The Head of the Sovereign Council and Commander in Chief of the Sudanese army Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met with Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee and Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa David Satterfield.

The two sides agreed that “The Sudanese parties have to participate in a comprehensive roundtable dialogue including all the political and social forces, except the National Congress Party, to reach a national consensus ending the current crisis”.

The statement issued after the meeting further said that they agreed also on the need to form a transitional government led by a civilian prime minister.

The meeting stressed the need to “amend the constitutional declaration to keep up with new developments (in the country),” added the Sovereign Council.

The U.S-led Friends of Sudan group on Wednesday advised the Sudanese parties to “carefully consider” amending the constitutional declaration of 2019.

The international group was aware that both the civil and military components demand to review the text governing the transitional period to achieve opposed purposes.

For its part, the Assistant Secretary of State for Africa released a statement saying the Sudanese military “offered their commitment to inclusive national dialogue, the political transition, the establishment of a civilian-led government based upon consensus.”

Also they “acknowledged the importance of establishing and sustaining a peaceful environment to allow the political process to proceed,” according to a statement released via the U.S. embassy in Khartoum.

Phee and Satterfield told the Sudanese interlocutors that the United States will not resume economic assistance to the Sudanese government “absent an end to violence and a restoration of a civilian-led government (…)”.

Further they “made clear that the United States will consider measures to hold accountable those responsible for failure to move forward on these goals”.

Finally, they urged the lifting of the state of emergency, pointing this step should serve as a confidence-building measure.

The United States and European Union strongly condemned the killing of seven protesters on January 17.

The immunity given to the security forces under the state of emergency is seen as the main factor that led to the increase in the excessive use of power against protesters.

The United States supports the UN-facilitated process which is still at the stage of individual consultations.

During the second phase, the Sudanese stakeholders should meet in a roundtable conference to settle the sticky issues such as the legislative council, and security reforms before setting an implementation matrix and forming the needed committee for the electoral process.

(ST)