Sudan’s FM to visit Washington soon

July 3, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s Foreign Minister El-Dirdeiry Mohamed Ahmed would visit a number of Western countries including the United States during the next period, said the official news agency SUNA

El-Dirdeiry was appointed as Foreign Minister last May succeeding Ibrahim Ghandour who was sacked from his post after complaining to the parliament of the Finance Ministry’s failure to pay the salaries of the diplomats for seven months.

According to the agency, El-Dirdeiry would tour a number of Western countries including the U.S. as soon as the ongoing South Sudan’s peace talks conclude on 9 July in Khartoum.

He expressed satisfaction with the U.S. and European welcoming of the outcome of South Sudan’s peace talks, saying the Sudanese-U.S. dialogue would resume during the next period to lift Sudan’s name from the terror list.

“We expect [my] visit to the U.S. would witness the launch of a new phase of dialogue [between the two countries],” he said

In October 2017, Washington decided to lift economic sanctions on Sudan in line with a five-track framework reached by the two countries in December 2016. Khartoum, accordingly, authorized humanitarian access to civilians in Darfur and unilaterally declared a cessation of hostilities in Darfur, the Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

The two countries agreed to resume talks on the normalization of bilateral talks and the lift of remaining sanctions particularly Sudan’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorist groups. The measure is crucial to get a debt relief and allow Sudan to get international aid to build its economic infrastructure.

In November 2017, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, John Sullivan, was in Khartoum to launch the second phase of the normalization process and pointed to the need for reforms on human rights and religious freedom. Also, the two countries agreed to engage in written exchanges for Sudan’s removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

(ST)