Sudanese-Ugandan political committee to meet on Sunday

The Sudanese side would be headed by the Foreign Ministry Under-Secretary Abdel-Ghani al-Nai’im while the Ugandan side would be headed by the Permanent Under-Secretary of Uganda’s Foreign Ministry, Patrick Samuel.

The two sides would discuss a number of issues of common concern including ways to promote bilateral relations especially on economic, trade and technical fields as well as coordination of positions in the regional and international forums.

Also, the meeting would discuss the outcome of the President Omer al-Bashir’s visit to Uganda last November besides the ongoing preparations to hold the joint ministerial committee between the two countries in Kampala during the next months.

Following ten years of strained relations, Museveni visited Khartoum in September 2015 where he and al-Bashir agreed to work together to bring stability in South Sudan and the region, and to end tensions between the two countries over the issue of rebel groups.

The Year 2016, witnessed a steady rapprochement between the two countries, accelerated, by the South Sudanese civil war and their joint efforts to end the crisis in the neighbouring nation.

The visit of President Museveni to Khartoum in October 2016 to take part in the closing conference of the government-led national dialogue was seen as a turning point in the relationship between the two countries.

In September 2016, the Ugandan government facilitated informal talks between the Sudanese government and armed groups in Darfur and Sudan’s Blue Nile and South Kordofan areas, in a bid to support the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) efforts to bring peace in the east African country.

(ST)