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Jordan's King Abdallah II in Washington to Discuss 'Regional Tensions'

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy holding talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Washington (Reuters)
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy holding talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Washington (Reuters)
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Jordan's King Abdallah II in Washington to Discuss 'Regional Tensions'

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy holding talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Washington (Reuters)
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy holding talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Washington (Reuters)

Jordan's King Abdullah II kicked off his visit to the US on Tuesday and is set to hold talks with President Joe Biden on Thursday at the White House, according to the Jordanian embassy in Washington.

The Jordanian monarch held a series of meetings with Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress during his visit, a part of an international tour that included Qatar and Canada.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy hosted King Abdullah II for a bipartisan leadership meeting and discussed issues of mutual concern.

It was McCarthy's first foreign meeting as the new speaker of the House with a foreign official since he took office after the Republicans won the majority in the House of Representatives.

King Abdullah also met the leaders of the specialized committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The King held several closed meetings and addressed the recent escalation between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the strategic relations between Jordan and the US, and other issues of common interest.

A source confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Jordanian monarch would also meet during his visit Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken after his return from his regional tour following the escalating tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

King Abdullah visited the United States in May, and in July, he met Biden during a visit to Saudi Arabia. The two sides "reaffirmed the enduring strength of the strategic friendship between the two countries."

Ahead of his arrival in Washington, the Jordanian monarch visited Canada and met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ontario, where the two sides discussed "global security."

In a joint statement, they expressed "deep concern about the deteriorating situation in the West Bank and Gaza."

They stressed the need to "stop all unilateral and provocative measures that undermine the two-state solution, increase tension, and lead to violence."

They also encouraged efforts to relaunch peace negotiations to achieve the two-state solution to ensure an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state.

Last week, King Abdullah received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a surprise visit to Jordan and stressed that Israel should respect the "historical and legal status quo in the Holy Aqsa mosque and not violate it," the royal court said.

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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
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Sudanese Stakeholders Hold Roundtable Talks in Geneva

A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)
A previous meeting of the coordination of Tagadum with the officials of the African Mechanism in Addis Ababa. (Tagadum on Facebook)

Geneva has hosted a third “roundtable” of meetings involving Sudanese political and civil groups aimed at bridging the gap between the country’s warring parties. These talks, coordinated by the French organization Promediation, follow similar meetings held previously in Cairo and Geneva. The primary goals are to negotiate a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians.

The two-day meetings, which began on Monday, include representatives from the Coordination of Democratic Civil Forces (Tagadum), the pro-army Democratic Bloc coalition, and armed movements aligned with the bloc. However, some groups have announced their boycott of the meetings.

The Democratic Bloc has shown conflicting stances on attending the Geneva talks. Mohammed Zakaria, spokesperson for the bloc and a member of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), announced his group’s decision not to participate.

Omar Khalafallah, a leader in the Democratic Unionist Party and another bloc spokesperson, refuted Zakaria’s statement, insisting that the bloc would attend the meetings to promote a national vision.

A source within the Democratic Bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meetings revealed significant internal divisions in the coalition. The JEM, led by current Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim, appears to be charting its own course, which the source described as a form of defection.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sharif Mohammed Osman, a leader in Tagadum and the political secretary of the Sudanese Congress Party, explained that the meetings seek to achieve consensus on ending the war through negotiated solutions, starting with a humanitarian truce to ensure aid delivery and the opening of safe corridors.

These measures are considered preliminary steps toward a ceasefire and a peaceful resolution to the conflict, he underlined.

A wide array of civilian leaders are participating in the talks, including key figures from Tagadum, such as Sudanese Congress Party leader Omar Al-Dukair, Federal Gathering Party leader Babiker Faisal, and head of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Transitional Council Al-Hadi Idris.

Osman expressed optimism that the participants would issue a unified final statement addressing the peaceful resolution of the war and agreeing on a humanitarian truce to facilitate aid delivery.

In October, Cairo hosted a similar meeting, which resulted in a final statement signed by the participating groups, except for the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi faction and the JEM – Jibril Ibrahim faction, which refused to endorse the Cairo declaration despite attending the discussions.

Promediation, a French organization supported by the French and Swiss foreign ministries, has played a consistent role in Sudanese affairs. Since June 2022, it has organized roundtable discussions, initially focusing on negotiations between Darfuri armed movements before expanding its scope to include Sudanese political and civil forces in the wake of the war.