Military leaders discuss dialogue process with facilitators and reasssure allies
June 16, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s coup leaders Thursday held two separate meetings with the international facilitators and their allies of the National Consensus group, to exchange views on the difficult dialogue process and to reassure their allied factions.
The tripartite mechanism consisting of the UNITAMS, African Union and IGAD launched the intra-Sudanese dialogue on June 8, but they quickly suspended the political process one day after the opening session.
Following a meeting with the facilitation committee, the Army Spokesman, Brig-Gen Nabil Abdallah stated that the Trilateral Mechanism explored the views of the military’s negotiating team on the intra-Sudanese dialogue process.
According to a statement issued by the Sovereign Council, the UNITAMS head Volker Perthes, for his part, said that they got assurances from the military component on the need to expedite the political process and solve the ongoing crisis.
“These assurances create optimism that we have reached the stage of agreement between the stakeholders to find a solution to the Sudanese crisis as soon as possible,” Perthes stressed.
The UN envoy did not post a statement on Twitter to further explain the outcome of the meeting as the official media used to reflect the positions of the military-led Sovereign Council.
The meeting took place as the security forces killed another protester in a clear breach of the commitments taken by the coup leaders to stop the bloody violence in Sudan.
The FFC boycotted the trilateral-facilitated process. However, in a meeting with the military component brokered by the U.S. assistant secretary for African affairs and Saudi ambassador they agreed to hand over a roadmap leading to the end of the coup and restoring the civil government.
The suspension of the intra-Sudanese political process and the separate meeting between the FFC and the military angered the National Consensus groups that backed the coup.
Following a separate meeting between the military negotiating committee and the National Consensus, the army spokesman stated that the meeting discussed the political process and emphasized that the dialogue must be inclusive.
“The purpose of the bilateral meetings that had been held (with the FFC) is to listen to the other’s point of view on the inclusive national dialogue,” he added.
For his part, Ali Askouri, a spokesman for the National Consensus that the group got a detailed briefing about the meeting with the FFC.
“The two sides agreed to support the efforts of the Trilateral Mechanism as the only forum for dialogue,” Askouri further stressed.
The military negotiating committee is headed by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemetti” and includes Chames al-Din Kabbashi and Ibrahim Jabir.
Yasir Alatta initially tasked with the political file was in Egypt for medical reasons but it is not clear if he is still a member of this body.
(ST)