The United Nations (UN) special envoy, Volker Perthes, on Thursday said Sudanese military leaders will hold direct talks with civilian politicians and activists next week for the first time since October’s coup, reported The Bloomberg.
Perthes said the army has formed a negotiating committee led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the country’s second-in-command so that negotiations can begin.
“We are very confident that we will have all the major stakeholders in the room, which of course includes the military,” the UN envoy said.
To make the conditions conducive for fruitful talks, the Sudanese ruling council’s head and military leader Al-Burhan on Sunday announced the lifting of the state of emergency in all parts of the country. The army had imposed a state of emergency following a coup on October 25 last year.
The decision to lift the state of emergency was announced after a meeting with senior military officials recommending the state of emergency be lifted and people imprisoned under an emergency law be freed.
The UN also welcomed the lifting of the state of emergency in Sudan and said the move was an important step to creating a suitable environment for direct, intra-Sudanese talks to end the ongoing political crisis in the country.
Sudan has been suffering a political crisis after Al-Burhan dissolved the sovereign council and the government and declared a state of emergency on October 25, 2021. The military takeover led to widespread international condemnation and punitive measures, including aid cuts by Western governments pending the resumption of the transition to civilian rule.
The UN, the African Union (AU), and the regional bloc IGAD have all been working hard to facilitate Sudanese-led talks to resolve the crisis.
On Wednesday, the trilateral mechanism announced that the intra-Sudanese dialogue process aimed at restoring constitutional rule in Sudan would begin next week.
In a statement, the facilitators noted that the talks will be aimed at restoring constitutional rule, a smooth democratic transition, and the building of a new Sudan.
