Sudan urges USA to restore broken trust

October 11, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese government has reiterated its willingness to establish “balanced relations” with Washington and expressed hopes that the latter take steps to restore broken confidence between the two countries.

President Barack Obama meets with Ambassador Donald Booth, Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, in the Oval Office, Aug. 28, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Speaking at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington on Thursday, US special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan expressed his readiness to travel to the Sudanese capital Khartoum to discuss bilateral relations and issues of peace and democracy.

Sudanese foreign ministry undersecretary, Abdallah Azrak, told al-Youm Altali newspaper that Khartoum and Washington need to repair the broken trust; stressing that his government no longer believe what American officials say.

"We had received multiple pledges on many occasions, but the USA has not fulfilled its promises," he said.

He went further to welcome Booth’s visit to Sudan, stressing "We need assurances of the sincerity of American statements, especially they did not fulfil previous promises."

However speaking under the cover of anonymity, an official from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) declined to comment on Both’s statement about his readiness to come to Sudan, saying they did not yet receive any official demand from Washington about this visit.

The US administrations vowed in the past to remove Sudan from the list of countries supporting terrorism to reward Khartoum’s cooperation on counter-terrorism and to review gradually the left of economic sanctions after the independence of South Sudan, as it also depends on the settlement of Darfur crisis.

Last year Washington reinforced the implementation of sanctions imposed on Sudan since 1997, and Arab countries were pressured to stop financial transactions with Sudan.

Washington asks Sudan to allow humanitarian access to the affected civilians in the war areas in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

In reaction to these measures Khartoum decided to not cooperate with the US special envoy who did not visit the Sudanese capital since December 2013. During his second and last visit he was only received at the parliament.

Azrak also rejected what Booth statements about the national dialogue process considering it as an interference in Sudan’s internal affairs.

“The government is not ready to receive lessons in this regard,” he said.

Booth welcomed the national dialogue process but urged the Sudanese government to take the necessary measures to create a conducive environment in the country and to reach a framework agreement with the opposition parties.

“But to date, realisation of the promised National Dialogue remains uncertain. In the intervening months, details of the purported dialogue were few, and actions taken by the government appeared to run contrary to its stated intent,” he said.

(ST)