AU denies withdrawing from Sudan talks

The African Union Mission to Sudan denied reports that it had withdrawn from the tripartite mechanism to facilitate the national dialogue in the country.

This came in a statement published by the mission to clarify the statements of the Special Representative of the Union to Khartoum, Mohamed Balaish, about withdrawing from the Sudanese dialogue sessions.

The mission recalled that the African Union actively participated in the establishment of the tripartite mechanism and its work in a serious way.

She explained that the head of the mission stressed in his speech that he would not attend some activities due to the lack of transparency… and the strict commitment to non-exclusion in the political process, to ensure its success in line with the principles and values of the Union.

On Tuesday evening, Belaish said at a press conference in Khartoum that the African Union cannot participate in a path that is not followed by transparency, honesty and non-exclusion.

He added, “The union will not participate in a path that does not respect all the actors and treat them with full respect and on an equal footing.” He stated that he decided, based on the directions of the African leadership, not to participate in future meetings of camouflage, evasion and lack of transparency, in reference to the direct Sudanese dialogue.

On Monday, the Sudanese Umma Party, led by Mubarak al-Mahdi, said, in statements reported by local media, that the tripartite mechanism had failed to end the political crisis in the country. Al-Fadil indicated that the head of the United Nations mission, Volker Peretz, is conducting negotiations behind the table, in order to restore the Forces of Freedom and Change (the former ruling coalition) to power.

The tripartite mechanism consists of the United Nations, the African Union and IGAD.

On June 8, the first rounds of direct dialogue under the auspices of the African United Nations were launched in Khartoum, to end the political crisis in the country.

On the 12th of the same month, the tripartite mechanism announced the postponement of the second round of dialogue to a date to be determined later.

However, General Abdelfattah al-Burhan, who led the coup last October, said in a speech to officers last week that there was no room for a two-way agreement and that all parties must be included. He defended his stance and said the military remained committed to a UN- and African Union-led process.

The Sudanese military, led by al-Burhan, seized power last October, after detaining Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other civilian leaders and dissolving the year-old transitional government as well as the joint ruling military-civilian sovereign council formed after the 2019 ouster of longtime President Omar al-Bashir.