Sudan FM, African envoy discuss resumption of peace talks
July 5, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese foreign minister on Sunday discussed with the African Union envoy in Sudan the resumption of the peace talks and the ongoing preparation to launch an internal dialogue on ways to end war and achieve constitutional reforms.
The meeting also touched on the expected negotiations for peace in Sudan, in addition to the national dialogue process which will resume soon with wider participation, the agency said.
The head of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) last April suspended indefinitely a national dialogue preparatory meeting aiming to discuss the procedures and process issues, to facilitate the internal national dialogue process.
The suspension was announced after the refusal of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to take part in the pre-dialogue meeting before the elections.
At the time, the ruling party said the timing chosen by the mediation was inappropriate and would send a negative message to the Sudanese street two weeks before the general elections. It also blamed the mediation for not consulting the government before to send the invitations to the opposition parties and civil society groups.
However the mediation retorted that they consulted with the government and they had indications that Khartoum was ready to attend it.
“Despite initially indicating that they would respond positively to the Panel’s invitation to participate in the Addis Ababa meeting, key representatives of the “7+7 mechanism” later cited several impediments their attendance of the meeting,” said the AUHIP in statement issued on 2 April.
After a visit by a German delegation to Khartoum last June, Sudanese government officials said they are ready to resume discussion with the holdout opposition forces including the rebel groups after Eid al-Fitr.
(ST)