AFRICOM deputy commander to meet senior Sudanese gov’t and army officials

August 7, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – U.S. embassy in Khartoum has confirmed the arrival of the Deputy Commander of U.S. Africa Command on Tuesday saying he would meet senior military and government officials in the first visit of its kind.

“The Deputy to the Commander for Civil-Military Engagement, United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), Ambassador Alexander M. Laskaris, will visit Khartoum, August 8-9 to meet with senior military, political, and government leadership,” reads a statement released on Monday.

Ambassador Laskaris is the most senior civilian U.S. Government official in the AFRICOM leadership.

The purpose of the two-day visit is to discuss areas of cooperation mutually beneficial to Sudan and the United States and to identify ways to work together to improve security in the region, further said the statement.

The Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said he would meet Laskaris who is a former U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Guinea from September 2012 to November 2015.

The American official will also discuss Sudan’s continued progress in improving humanitarian access; achieving a sustainable end to the conflicts in Darfur and the “Two Areas” of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states; and regional security concerns

Khartoum and Washington signed a five track framework last year leading to normalise bilateral relations and the removal of economic sanctions. In line with this deal, Sudan will allow humanitarian access to the war affected areas in the country.

Washington also proposed a humanitarian plan to provide with medical assistance civilians in the SPLM-N areas in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

(ST)