Al-Burhan calls to unite international, regional efforts on Sudan’s crisis

February 13, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Sovereignty Council Chairman Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has called for a unified international and regional effort to resolve Sudan’s political crisis.

Al-Burhan met Sunday with the Chairman of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki and his delegation at the end of a three-day working visit to Sudan.

In his meeting with the visiting delegation, al-Burhan praised the role played by the African Union in supporting peace and stability in Africa, and Sudan in particular.

He “stressed the need to unite international and regional efforts to resolve the current crisis in Sudan,” further said a statement released by the Sovereign Council after the meeting.

The United Nations, through its special envoy to Sudan Volker Perthes, has launched an initiative aimed at bringing together Sudanese civilian and military parties in a Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue to end the crisis.

IGAD’s executive secretary recently visited Khartoum and stated they plan to mediate a process to end the political crisis in the East African country.

The Sovereign Council, al-Burhan told the visiting delegation that there is a need for an inclusive dialogue involving all political and social forces in the country, except the National Congress Party.

He also pointed out the importance of amending the constitutional document, forming a transitional government of technocrats and holding free and fair elections by the end of the transitional period.

Perthes’s role

In an interview with the official Sudan TV, on Saturday, al-Burhan said he and UNITAMS Head Volker Perthes agreed that his role should be limited to facilitating a Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue.

He said the role of the UN envoy is to help prepare for the elections” but was not interested in those activities and limited his efforts to internal politics.”

“He is influenced by his talks with only a specific group. And, we fear that this will lead to influence his ideas and visions,” he said.

Speaking about his perception of the dialogue process, the head of the Sovereign Council stressed that the initiative should be presented by Sudanese parties. After that, the Sudanese stakeholders will discuss it.

Perthes’s role will only be confined to facilitating the Sudanese-led negotiations process, he concluded.

(ST)