Sudanese officials snub US special envoy
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July 28, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The US special envoy to Sudan, Princeton
Lyman, has yet to secure meetings with key officials in Khartoum in
what seems to be a deliberate snub.
JPEG - 28.6 kb
U.S. special envoy for Sudan Princeton Lyman (Reuters)
"The Sudanese Foreign Ministry received a request from the U.S. envoy
before reaching Khartoum for meetings with Sudanese vice president,
Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Sudanese presidential assistant Nafie Ali
Nafie, Sudanese foreign minister, Ali Karti, and the governor of
Central Bank of Sudan" foreign ministry spokesperson Al-Obaid Marawih
said.
"The foreign ministry has not received confirmation from those
officials to meet with the envoy particularly since his arrival on
Thursday coincided with the weekly meeting of the Sudanese Council of
Ministers and the three officials are members of the Council" Marawih
added.
He added that so far Lyman had only held talks on Thursday with the
governor of the Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) Mohamed Khair al-Zubeir.
It is not clear if the US envoy will eventually manage to hold talks
with the remaining officials before traveling to Juba and Addis Ababa.
This is the first visit by Lyman to Sudan following the independence
of the Southern part of the country earlier this month. The peaceful
vote by Southerners on self-determination and the eventual secession
was hailed as a key accomplishment of the US administration.
The US State department said earlier this week that Lyman will urge
leaders in Khartoum and Juba to restart stalled negotiations on
post-secession issues related to border security, financial
arrangements, and currency.
Lyman "will also press the parties for an immediate end to conflict
and unfettered humanitarian access in the Southern Kordofan region of
Sudan".
Washington pledged to begin a process of normalising ties with Sudan
if the latter recognises the new state and implements key items of the
2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended more than two
decades of the North-South civil war.
Earlier this year, the US started reviewing Sudan’s designation as a
state sponsor of terrorism and it was expected that the East African
nation would be removed from the list as early as this month.
However, the de-listing appears to have been stalled by clashes that
erupted in South Kordofan between the Sudanese army and Sudan People
Liberation Army (SPLA) units as well Khartoum’s military takeover of
Abyei which is a contested oil-rich region that lies on the
North-South borders.
Countries on the list of state sponsors of terrorism cannot receive US
aid or buy US weapons and a raft of restrictions on financial and
other dealings. The list currently includes Cuba, Iran, Sudan and
Syria.
US officials made it clear that lifting the comprehensive economic
sanctions imposed in 1997 is contingent upon resolving the crisis in
Darfur.
Despite that, the US announced in October of last year that it was
easing sanctions on agriculture equipment and services.
Sudanese official nonetheless consistently slam the US for what they
perceive as foot dragging in normalising relations despite numerous
pledges.
In a related issue, Sudan said that US authorities refused to grant a
visa to its sports and youth minister, Haj Magid Siwar, for unknown
reasons. The minister said he notified the foreign ministry of this
action taken by the embassy in Khartoum.
He was scheduled to participate in the UN Youth Conference that is
taking place in New York this week.
Siwar expressed surprise saying that the denial is "incompatible with
the ideals, values and norms among youths, voluntary and community
entities for young people and athletes".
(ST)
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