Sudan: Sovereignty Council welcomes UN dialogue initiative

Sudan’s Sovereignty Council has welcomed the UN initiative to facilitate dialogue among all of the Sudanese parties to resolve the country’s political crisis, Anadolu has reported. The announcement was made during a meeting held at the Republican Palace, chaired by the council’s Chairman, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.

The council called for the involvement of the African Union to support the initiative and contribute to the success of intra-Sudanese dialogue. It also stressed the need to speed up the formation of a caretaker government to fill the executive vacuum left by Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok’s resignation on 2 January.

The UN launched an intra-Sudanese political process on Saturday in a bid to end the crisis. Volker Perthes, head of the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan formally launched the political process after consultation with Sudanese and international partners,.

“The UN-facilitated intra-Sudanese political process is aimed at supporting Sudanese stakeholders in agreeing on a way out of the current political crisis and agreeing on a sustainable path forward towards democracy and peace,” Perthes told a press conference.

Sudan has been rocked by regular mass protests after Al-Burhan, the general commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, declared a state of emergency on 25 October last year and dissolved the Sovereign Council and the government. Hamdok’s resignation followed hours after three people were killed during protests against rule by the army.

READ: Anti-military protests in Sudan continue, three protesters killed