Resumption of financial support is linked to restoring civilian govt in Sudan: U.S. Phee
May 9, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – U.S. Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Molly Phee told the head of the military-led Sovereign Council that international economic support to Sudan would resume once a civilian government is established.
On Sunday Phee had a phone call with Lt Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to encourage him to move toward the restoration of a civilian transitional government after his coup of October 25, 2021.
The US top diplomat is facing pressure from the Congress members who see no effective measures taken in Khartoum to restore the civilian government despite the pledges made by the military leaders in this respect.
Ahead of the launch of the UNITAMS-AU-IGAD facilitated dialogue, Phee on Sunday couraged al-Burhan to take the needed measures to create the needed conducive environment for the process.
The State Department on Monday said that she welcomed the recent release of political detainees and pressed for the full implementation of the confidence-building measures including lifting the state of emergency and the release of the remaining political detainees.
“She underscored the need for the military to transfer power to a civilian government established under such a framework to enable the resumption of international financial support and development assistance,” further stressed the statement.
Special envoys from France, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Union on April 28, met with al-Burhan to express their support for the efforts of the tripartite mechanism to end the political stalemate.
The visiting diplomats warned that any agreement or government resulting from non-inclusive processes would lack credibility with the Sudanese public and the international community.
Phee, on February 1, 2022, told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee that she was working on sanctions targeting the Sudanese military companies and military-controlled companies.
However, she stressed they still believe that current conditions in Sudan still allow to smartly bring back the democratic transition in Sudan.
“Some of them truly would like to effect the transition but they do not know how to do it,” she added referring to al-Burhan.
His deputy and commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) plans to lead the country one day, as his entourage confesses.
In a statement issued after the phone call on Sunday, the Sovereign Council said that al-Burhan pledged his commitment to complete the democratic transition
He further “reiterated his commitment to supporting the tripartite mechanism’s efforts as well as other efforts by the Sudanese to achieve national consensus”.
On Monday, al-Burhan continued his efforts to mobilise tribal and religious figures as well as small political groups from several regions to back his efforts to marginalize the political of the Forces for Freedom and Change that he ousted from power in October 2021.
The signatories of the National Declaration for Sovereignty and Democratic Transition stated their support for the national sovereignty, and the democratic transition, and rejected “foreign interference in Sudanese affairs”.
One of the controversial religious figures in Sudan Mohamed Mustafa Abdel Qadir stated that the purpose of this Declaration is to “deliver a message to Volker (Perthes of the UNITAMS) and the western countries, which have tyrannized our country to make it their own”.
(ST)