Armed Sudanese Opposition: Improved EU Ties Depend on Bashir’s Departure from Power

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. (Reuters)
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. (Reuters)
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Armed Sudanese Opposition: Improved EU Ties Depend on Bashir’s Departure from Power

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. (Reuters)
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. (Reuters)

The armed Sudanese opposition said that improving its ties with the European Union depend on the departure of President Omar al-Bashir.

It said that the ties depend on achieving peace, a democratic transformation and preventing Bashir from running in the 2020 presidential elections.

Sudan People's Liberation Movement – North leader Malek Akar said that the movement was meeting in Brussels with EU officials, including its envoys to Sudan and South Sudan.

Discussions also addressed African and Sudanese migrants.

Deputy chief of the movement Yasser Arman said that he urged the EU against allowing a constitutional amendment that would give Bashir an opportunity to run in the elections.

He stressed that improving living conditions, combating corruption and resolving the war are linked to ending the rule of the National Congress.

The EU must support the Sudanese people’s demands to hold free and transparent elections and provide basic freedoms to create a suitable election environment, he added.

Arman stated that his movement does not seek an agreement or sharing authority with Bashir’s National Congress.

“We have a vision that is not about dividing power and wealth, but in carrying out structural reform for the sake of the people and the marginalized, not for the interest of the powerful,” he explained.

The Sudanese government had announced that Bashir is not seeking to run in the next presidential elections.

Some sides in his party are however seeking otherwise.

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour had previously told Asharq Al-Awsat that there is a great popular desire for him to run in the elections.



Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
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Trump, Netanyahu Meet Again as Gaps Said to Narrow in Gaza Ceasefire Talks

07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)
07 July 2025, US, Washington: US President Donald Trump receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speak privately in the Vermeil Room before a dinner at the White House. (Daniel Torok/White House/dpa)

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday met for a second time in two days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Gaza as Trump's Middle East envoy said Israel and Hamas were closing their differences on a ceasefire deal.

Netanyahu arrived at the White House shortly before 5 p.m. EDT for a meeting that was not expected to be open to the press. The two men met for several hours during a dinner at the White House on Monday during the Israeli leader's third US visit since the president began his second term on January 20.

Netanyahu met with Vice President JD Vance and then visited the US Capitol on Tuesday. He told reporters after a meeting with the Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson that while he did not think Israel's campaign in the Palestinian enclave was done, negotiators are "certainly working" on a ceasefire.

"We have still to finish the job in Gaza, release all our hostages, eliminate and destroy Hamas' military and government capabilities," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu's return to the White House to see Trump on Tuesday pushed back his meeting with US Senate leaders to Wednesday.

Shortly after Netanyahu spoke, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said the issues keeping Israel and Hamas from agreeing had dropped to one from four and he hoped to reach a temporary ceasefire agreement this week.

"We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we'll have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire. Ten live hostages will be released. Nine deceased will be released," Witkoff told reporters at a meeting of Trump's Cabinet.

The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

Israel's retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave's health ministry. Most of Gaza's population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates.

Trump had strongly supported Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics by criticizing prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges that Netanyahu denies.

In his remarks to reporters at the US Congress, Netanyahu praised Trump, saying there has never been closer coordination between the US and Israel in his country's history.