Sudan – Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council and US envoy Tom Perriello exchanged criticism over a consultative meeting between them, which was scheduled to be held yesterday, Wednesday, in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, which has not yet issued any statements about the fate of the conference.
While the US envoy said yesterday that the postponement of the Sudanese-US consultations “was due to the Sudanese delegation’s violation of the protocol,” without giving details, the Sudanese Sovereignty Council said “the meeting was not held due to circumstances related to the US delegation.”
“As part of our ongoing close partnership with Egypt in trying to save lives in Sudan, I appreciate the opportunity on Wednesday to meet with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty,” Perriello said via X.
He added, “The Egyptian government had also set a date – which he did not mention – to hold a meeting with a government delegation coming from the city of Port Sudan, but we were told that the meeting would be cancelled after the delegation violated the protocols,” without providing any further clarifications in this regard.
“We are excited to continue to see the results of our efforts with Egypt and international partners in Geneva to expand humanitarian access and other programs to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people,” the US envoy said.
For its part, the Transitional Sovereignty Council issued a statement in which it affirmed “the Sudanese government’s keenness to achieve security, peace and stability to end the suffering of citizens resulting from repeated violations by the rebel militia (referring to the Rapid Support Forces) against civilians, their property, and their health and social institutions.”
The statement also stressed that “the principled position of the Sudanese government is its bias towards real peace based on sincere intentions and the implementation of the Jeddah Declaration, so that this represents the beginning of achieving the aspirations of the Sudanese people, paving the way for citizens to return to their homes, restoring public facilities to work, opening public roads, and helping to normalize life, in preparation for negotiations on the fate of the rebel militia and the rest of the arrangements related to peace.”
Regarding the Cairo meeting that was not held, the statement said, “The Sudanese government highly appreciates the efforts that Egypt has been making since the outbreak of the war, especially its hosting of the Sudanese, as well as its efforts to achieve peace and its initiative to host the consultative meeting with the United States.”
The statement said that the Sudanese government decided to “send a government delegation to Cairo to meet with the American delegation. Two members of our delegation arrived in Cairo last Monday and are still there waiting for the delegation to join them. This is a confirmation of our seriousness and our sincere desire to continue the previous consultations that we initiated with the United States in the city of Jeddah.”
He also pointed out that “These consultations have nothing to do with what is happening in the Geneva meetings, but they aim to clarify our vision regarding the implementation of the Jeddah Declaration,” stressing that the Sudanese government “will remain keen to respond to what achieves the desires of the Sudanese people and is ready for any consultative rounds that are determined in this framework, with the necessity of prior coordination with us and not imposing a fait accompli unilaterally,” according to his expression.
While the US envoy and the Sudanese government avoided discussing the details surrounding the failure to hold the meeting, the local website “Sudan Tribune” quoted informed sources as saying that the last hours before the meeting “witnessed additions to the Sudanese government delegation, including an official in the military intelligence service and two people from the armed movements.”
The sources confirmed that the Egyptian and American sides objected to the formation of the delegation that was scheduled to leave for Cairo yesterday, headed by the Minister of Minerals, Mohammed Bashir Abu Namu.
The sources said that the army leadership “backed out of sending the delegation hours before its departure, due to the way the US envoy presented the invitation to attend without setting a date in sufficient time,” adding that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the US envoy, and Egyptian officials informed the government of their observations on the nature of the delegation’s composition, and refused to hold the meeting.
Last Sunday, the Transitional Sovereignty Council announced its intention to send a government delegation to Cairo, based on contacts with the United States and Egypt, to discuss the implementation of the Jeddah Declaration.
This came against the backdrop of the absence of the Sudanese government’s negotiating delegation from talks on the crisis in his country that began in Geneva last Wednesday, in response to an American invitation issued on July 23.
While a delegation from the Rapid Support Forces is participating in these talks, the government delegation refused to participate, insisting on implementing the Jeddah Declaration, issued in May 2023, before sitting down for any new negotiations.
It is noteworthy that the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces broke out in April 2023, leaving about 18,800 dead and nearly 10 million displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations.
There are increasing international and UN calls to end this war in order to spare Sudan a humanitarian catastrophe that has begun to push millions to famine and death due to food shortages caused by the fighting that has spread to 13 of the 18 states.
Source: Agencies
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2024-08-22 09:19:14
