U.S. Issues Statement on Sudan’s National Dialogue General Conference

John Kirby
Assistant Secretary and Department Spokesperson, Bureau of Public Affairs
Department of State
Washington, DC
October 8, 2016

The United States notes the Government of Sudan’s intention to hold a General Conference on October 10 to review the progress made by National Dialogue participants. While we acknowledge that the conference will recognize the contributions of the different stakeholders to the National Dialogue, we believe it is equally important to strive for a representative and comprehensive national dialogue with participation from political and armed opposition, for a sustainable end to Sudan’s internal crises.

We urge the Government of Sudan to consider the current National Dialogue a first phase, and to engage with the opposition for its participation in an inclusive dialogue process, as prescribed in the Roadmap agreement negotiated by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) which the government and opposition have signed. Conclusively ending the dialogue at this stage could seriously impede negotiations of cessations of hostilities agreements with the armed opposition and could derail the completion of the AUHIP Roadmap.