Sudan’s dialogue facilitators renew calls for conducive environment

May 26, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – The tripartite mechanism renewed calls on the military-led Sovereign Council to implement the confidence-building measures and expressed their readiness to launch the intra-Sudanese dialogue.

Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemetti” Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council together with two other military members Chems al-Din Kabbashi and Ibrahim Gabir met with the UNITAMS Head Volker Perthes, African Union Special Envoy Mohamed al-Hecen Ould Lebbat and IGAD Envoy Ismail Wais.

The participants discussed the intra-Sudanese dialogue and the recent separate preliminary meetings about the political process the facilitators held with the stakeholders.

In statements after the meeting, Ould Lebbat said that the talks were frank, constructive and transparent adding that they stressed their readiness to expedite the political process.

“The mechanism urged the other party to take encouraging measures to hold this dialogue in the best conditions,” he said.

He added they reiterated the need to release the remaining political detainees, especially the Resistance Committees members.

A month ago the mechanism held a similar meeting with the head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan who pledged to implement the confidence-building measures.

But the military leaders failed to release all the political detainees, while the security forces continue to use violence against protesters and the state of emergency is still in force.

In his briefing to the Security Council on May 24, Perthes said the military leaders have to implement the needed measures to create a conducive environment for dialogue to end the political stalemate.

He spoke about the risks that the country may face in the near future if no solution was reached in the coming weeks.

He pinpointed the financial assistance to Sudan from the World Bank International Development Association’s 19-programme saying it would be allocated to another country by the end of June if no political agreement has been reached before the end of June.

“Additionally, some donor states have warned that international financial support to the Sudanese government, including debt relief, would not resume without a credible civilian government,” said the UNITAMS chief.

The African Union envoy said they were satisfied with the responses given by the Sudanese military officials during the meeting without elaborating on this respect.

For his part, General Gabir expressed their support for the trilateral mechanism and facilitate its efforts.

(ST)