Sudan’s Bashir vows to amend relations with the West
June 2, 2015 (KHARTOUM)- Speaking at his swearing-in ceremony, Sudan’s president Omer al-Bashir vowed to pursue dialogue with the West to normalize relations and announced that the national dialogue would kick off soon.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by several heads of state and government including Egypt’s president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe, Chadian president Idris Deby, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn among others.
South Sudan was represented by its Vice-President James Wani, Qatar by the deputy prime minister and minister of state for cabinet affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, and Saudi Arabia by its state minister Mansour Bin Mutaib.
“Sudan will seek, God willing and with an open heart to complete dialogue with Western countries to return relations to normal guided by the recent positive indicators,” Bashir said in his speech before the Sudanese legislators.
He further pledged to exert the necessary efforts to attract Arab capital to invest in food security projects in Sudan.
Relations between Sudan and Western countries deteriorated since the military coup d’état that brought Bashir to power in June 1989. But the arrest warrant over Darfur crimes against him dimmed any opportunity to improve relations as the country has been already under US economic sanctions since 1997 for alleged support of terrorism.
However, following the separation of South Sudan and considering the regional instability, the US administration and a number of European countries are reviewing their relations with Khartoum. But Washington still links between the normalization process and peace and democratic reforms.
A US delegation is expected in Khartoum during the upcoming weeks for talks on bilateral relations.
NATIONAL DIALOGUE
Bashir further reiterated his commitment to the national dialogue process that he launched in December 2013 and called to the holdout forces from the opposition and rebel groups to join it.
“I can assure your esteemed Assembly that we finalized the arrangements and identified mechanisms of the comprehensive national dialogue with its political and social tracks for which we called all people last year,” he told the lawmakers.
“It will begin its activities, with the benediction of God, in the next few days,” he said.
He further renewed his call for the “undecided” or “refusing” opposition parties to join the internal process and directed the same call for the rebel groups that “have chosen the path of violence”.
Also, he renewed the offer of full amnesty for rebels who sincerely want to return to participate in the dialogue.
“We welcome them all around the table of dialogue to get out a document acceptable to all the people of Sudan,” he stressed.
The Sudanese government said the dialogue process should take place inside the country without any foreign involvement.
However, it accepted that the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) facilitate the process through talks on the security arrangements with the rebel groups including the ceasefire.
But Khartoum refused last March to take part in a preparatory meeting for the national dialogue arguing it will send a wrong message to the Sudanese people and asked for it to be held it after the elections.
The alliance of the opposition and rebel forces wants to create a new process for peace and constitutional reforms involving the international community.
The Sudanese president vowed to work for the welfare of all the Sudanese and to improve the economy of the country.
He also pledged to fight corruption and nepotism announcing that around 8,000 tons of gold reserves have been identified in the country worth $330 billion.
(ST)