US envoy to visit Sudan for talks with senior army officials

A top US envoy will head to Sudan to encourage talks between Sudan’s military rulers and protesters, the State Department announced yesterday.

According to the statement, the US Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs, Tibor Nagy, planned to meet both members of the military leadership and protesters’ leaders in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

Nagy, the statement pointed out, would urge the fighting parties for “a cessation of attacks against civilians and to work towards creating an enabling environment.” Nagy described the Sudanese army’s crackdown on protesters as “brutal”, warning Sudan that it needed to hand over power to a civilian-led transition government “if it wants to improve relations with the US”.

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The statement noted that the visit came as part of Nagy’s previously-planned trip to several African countries including Sudan, South Africa, Mozambique and Ethiopia, where he planned to discuss the Sudan crisis.

Sudan has been rocked by unrest since December when anger over rising bread prices and cash shortages broke into sustained protests against long-time President Omar Al-Bashir that culminated in the military ousting him after three decades in office.