Sudan criticises its exclusion from US-Africa summit

January 26, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese government criticised the decision by the United States to exclude Khartoum from the list of invitees to a summit of African leaders to be held in Washington next August.

The White House said this week that president Barack Obama “will extend an invitation to all African heads of state or governments except those that are not in good standing with the United States or are suspended from the African Union”.

Those snubbed by the US included Egypt, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Guinea Bissau and Sudan.

Sudan is on the US list of states that sponsor terrorism and under economic sanctions by Washington since 1997. Also, its president Omer Hassan al-Bashir is evading an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes he allegedly masterminded in Darfur.

The deputy parliament speaker Samia Ahmed Mohamed commented to Sudan news agency (SUNA) by saying that it is wrong for the US to continue acting on its stagnant view of Sudan.

She said that the US stance on Sudan were wrong from the start and as such it is not fair for Washington not to revise it to come up with a new vision.

Mohamed stressed that Sudan is moving forward in its positive interaction with the surrounding regional and international community.

(ST)