Bashir, Kiir to meet in four-way summit in Kuwait

November 16, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese presidency has announced that a four-way summit is due to be held between the president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, South Sudan’s president Salva Kiir Mayardit, the Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni and the Ethiopian prime minister Haile Miriam Dessalines in Kuwait from November 18 to 19.

In a statement released on Saturday, the press secretary at the Sudanese presidency, Imad Sid Ahmed, said that the meeting, which would convene on the sidelines of the Third Arab-African Summit, would discuss ways for achieving peace and stability in the region.

Ahmed pointed that the Kuwaiti ambassador to Khartoum, Suleiman Al-Harbi, handed Bashir an invitation from Emir of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Gaber, to attend the summit.

The announcement of the four-way summit comes after reports published in Khartoum and Juba on Friday speaking about a bilateral summit between the presidents Bashir and Kiir over bilateral relations.

Kuwait’s official news agency KUNA said that preparations for the African-Arab Summit held for the first time outside Africa are going smoothly as the Kuwaiti government has so far provided several activities on the cultural and economic spectrums and has already hosted talks at the senior-level.

Last October Bashir and Museveni in a meeting held on the sidelines of an extraordinary African union summit, discussed bilateral relations and the presence of Sudanese rebel groups in Kampala.

According to the Sudanese foreign minister, Ali Karti, the Ugandan president who accused Khartoum in the past of supporting LRA rebels, seemed more responsive to the strong information provided by his Sudanese counterpart.

The Ethiopian prime minister who chairs the IGAD, is also involved in the ongoing efforts to bring Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – North to join the negotiating table and to discuss a peaceful settlement for the conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

(ST)