German diplomat discusses national dialogue with Sudanese officials
June 16, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – A visiting German diplomat discussed on Tuesday with Sudanese officials issues pertinent to the national dialogue, illegal immigration and human trafficking.
Last February, the Berghof Foundation, a renowned German institution for mediation, and the SWP (Stiftung Wissenschaftund Politik) the Foreign Policy Think Tank of the German Government organized a workshop for the Sudanese opposition to support the national dialogue.
Following the workshop, the rebel umbrella Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), the National Umma Party (NUP), the opposition alliance of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) and several civil society organizations signed the Berlin Declaration.
The head of East Africa division in the Germany foreign ministry, Marian Schuegraf, who arrived in Khartoum on Monday evening in an official three-day visit, met on Tuesday with Sudan’s first Vice President, Bakri Hassan Salih and the foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour.
At the outset of her meeting with Ghandour, the German official conveyed to him congratulations of his German counterpart on taking office as foreign minister.
Ghandour, for his part, told Schuegraf that national dialogue will resume after the holy month of Ramadan with the participation of all parties committed to dialogue as means for resolving issues of contention.
He added that the government is ready to provide the necessary guarantees for the opposition to participate in the dialogue and join the peace process.
Ghandour told Schuegraf that he discussed, in Johannesburg last Sunday with the former South Africa president, Thabo Mbeki the situation in South Sudan and the role that Khartoum could play to maintain stability and resolve problems of the newborn country.
The meeting also discussed the recent regional developments particularly the situation in Libya and ways to restore security and stability in that country.
The first Vice President, who met with Schuegraf Tuesday, welcomed Germany’s efforts to support the national dialogue by seeking to convince the opposition and the rebel groups to join the government-led dialogue.
He agreed with the German diplomat to continue discussions on issues pertaining to national dialogue through detailed meetings between competent bodies in the two countries.
The meeting also discussed ways for promoting bilateral ties particularly in the area of economic investment by urging German companies to invest in Sudan in the upcoming period.
Sudan’s president Omer Hassan al-Bashir launched the national dialogue initiative a year ago in which he urged opposition parties and rebels alike to join the dialogue table to discuss all the pressing issues.
But the initiative faced serious setbacks after rebel groups and leftist parties refused to join and after the National Umma Party (NUP) led by al-Sadiq al-Mahdi withdrew from the process in protest of al-Mahdi’s brief arrest last May.
Later on, several political parties including the Reform Now Movement (RNM) led by Ghazi Salah al-Din and the Just Peace Forum (JPF) led by al-Tayeb Mustafa and the Alliance of the Peoples’ Working Forces (APWF) announced they had decided to suspend participation in the national dialogue until the requirements of a conducive environment are met.
COMBATING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Meanwhile, Schuegraf met with Sudan’s interior minister, Ismat Abdel-Rahman, on Tuesday in the presence of the director of the European department at the foreign ministry, Youssef al-Kordofani, and commissioner for refugees, Hamad al-Gizouli.
The head of the passports and civil registry authority, Awad al-Nil Dahia, said the meeting came within the framework of ongoing cooperation between Sudan and Germany regarding the illegal immigration.
He stressed two sides agreed to form joint committees to develop a unified strategy to regulate management of illegal immigration, control borders and administer refugees camps in order to eliminate the phenomenon.
Dahia pointed the meeting discussed the outcome of the human trafficking conference held in Khartoum besides the Rome conference which laid the foundation for the European-African partnership for fighting against illegal immigration and human trafficking.
Last October, Khartoum hosted a meeting aimed at combating human trafficking organised by the African Union (AU) in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the Sudanese government.
The meeting was attended by ministerial delegations from 15 countries and a large delegation from the European Union, with the US government also represented by its deputy chargé d’affaires in Khartoum.
Ongoing political instability and conflict in the Horn of Africa makes the region volatile and insecure driving large number of people to quit their countries and cross to Sudan seeking to join Europe, Canada and USA.
This situation also created a market for smugglers and traffickers who request important amounts of money to facilitate their departure to their final destination.
In December 2013, the Sudanese parliament endorsed a bill on combating human trafficking and called for carrying out deterrent penalties including capital punishment and life imprisonment against those involved in those crimes.
(ST)