Sudan’s FM hopes talks with American envoy be based on new approach

July 7, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s foreign minister expressed hopes that upcoming discussions with the United States special envoy to Sudan would be based on a new approach and allow to reach joint understanding on bilateral relations.

Donald Booth is expected to be in Khartoum within two weeks where he will conduct his first visit for Sudan since nearly two years. His visit comes after discussions between the two countries last February on how to clear misunderstandings and what each side expects from the other.

The contention between Sudan, which is classified as a state sponsor of terror and under economic sanctions, and the American administration is over Washington’s demand to end conflicts in Darfur and the Two Areas as condition to normalize bilateral relations.

In an interview with the official news agency SUNA ahead of Booth’s visit to Khartoum, the foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour said he had discussed this issue with the American officials last February.

Ghandour said he informed his American interlocutors that a dialogue where the special envoy comes to Khartoum with “prescriptions” and ask them to implement it before to return home has proven its failure.

“We hope that the US administration understands our position in this matter,” he said.

“We hope that the US envoy comes within the framework of an integrated technical and political work. This is what we expect from the American side, and if that happened we could go in the prospects for dialogue,” he stressed.

Gahndour proposed to develop a relation based on the interests of US states in the troubled east and central African region and the role that Khartoum can play in support of the regional peace and stability.

He said that Sudan is a strategic and secure country in the region, while the United State as a great country has its vision for security and peace in the world, adding that “the cooperation between the two countries is important and required”.

During the past years, the president Omer al-Bashir ordered to stop talks on bilateral relations with Washington and accused the American administration of implementing the agenda of activists and rights defenders.

(ST)