The US State Department said that Molly, the Assistant Secretary of State, and the US Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, David Satterfield, will visit Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Ethiopia in the coming days, and will urge Addis Ababa to help end the conflict in the country.
A US State Department statement said that the US delegation will attend the Friends of Sudan meeting in Riyadh to mobilize international support for the United Nations Transitional Assistance Mission.
The statement indicated that the delegation will also head to Khartoum, where it will meet with military leaders, activists and political figures, and its message will be clear that the United States is committed to freedom, peace and justice for the Sudanese people, according to the US State Department statement.
The statement stated that the US delegation will encourage government officials in Ethiopia to seize the current opportunity for peace by ending air strikes and hostilities and negotiating a ceasefire.
international initiative
On the other hand, a member of the Central Council of the Forces of Freedom and Change, Shehab Ibrahim, confirmed that the Executive Office of the Alliance decided to deal with the UN initiative, while one of the Sudanese parties announced that it had received an invitation from the African Union to discuss the political situation in the country.
Ibrahim told Al Jazeera that the coalition stipulated an end to what he called a state of coup, an end to violations, and the lifting of the state of emergency.
Regarding the vision of the forces of freedom and change for the period after the current situation, Ibrahim stated that its most important features are the establishment of a new constitution, full civil transition, and that justice should be a priority in accordance with the consultations of the victims’ families.
He added that the position on the international initiative and the coalition’s vision derived from the road map submitted by the National Umma Party and a paper for the forces of change, will be submitted to the Central Council meeting to decide on it today, Saturday.
For his part, the leader of the Central Council of the Forces of Freedom and Change, Wajdi Saleh, affirmed the council’s declared position that there is no partnership or negotiation with the military component in the authority.
Saleh described the appearance of the armed forces in the dispersal of the processions (demonstrations) as a dangerous development, and called on them to return to their role and leave the internal security tasks, as he put it.
The IGAD initiative came days after the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) announced the start of individual preliminary consultations with all Sudanese parties, in preparation for consultations (the date has not been specified) in which the main stakeholders, including civilians and military, will participate.
Since last October 25, Sudanese have taken to the streets regularly to demand that the military step down.
The security forces responded to these protests, resulting in 64 deaths and hundreds of injuries so far, according to the Central Doctors Committee (an independent union) that supports the demonstrators.
On November 21, the head of the Sovereign Council, Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan, and the resigned Prime Minister, Abdullah Hamdok, signed a political agreement, which included the return of Hamdok to the presidency of the transitional government, the formation of a government of competencies, and the release of political detainees.
But on January 2, Hamdok resigned from his position, in light of protests rejecting his agreement with Al-Burhan and demanding full civilian rule.