The US on Friday reiterated its support for the ongoing political process in Sudan and expressed its readiness to support consultations with all Sudanese parties to overcome the challenges facing the final political agreement, accelerate its signing, and establish a credible transitional civilian government.
Washington made the announcement following a second delay in signing a political agreement between civilians and the military following a dispute between the military and Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
On Thursday, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee held telephone calls with each of Khalid Omer Youssif, the spokesperson for the political process, and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, also known as Hemedti, the deputy head of the Sovereign Council and commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
In a tweet, Phee said she underscored to Hemedti “US support for the aspirations of the Sudanese people to move now to transfer power to a civilian-led government.”
In a Facebook post, Hemedti said he assured Phee that the political process was a rare opportunity to restore the course of the revolution and a necessary step to move forward towards a true democratic transition.
In a separate tweet, Phee said she spoke to Youssif to “offer strong US support and advocacy for swift Sudanese action to complete the long journey of restoring the democratic transition.”
Youssif said the US official affirmed her country’s support for the political process, based on the framework agreement signed between the civil forces and the military on December 5.
He added that Phee underlined her administration's readiness to engage positively with all civil and military parties to overcome the remaining challenges to reach a final political agreement as soon as possible.
On March 30, Phee spoke with General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the Sovereign Council, to express support for the “Sudanese people’s pressing demand to transfer power to a civilian-led government.”
Joint US-Saudi efforts, which Phee has been a part of since June 2022, succeeded in bringing civilians and military officials together in direct talks, after they came to a halt following an October 2021 military coup.
The US-Saudi efforts led to the formation of the Quartet Mechanism that also includes Britain and the United Arab Emirates.
The signing of the final political agreement between civilians and the military was scheduled for early April. It was the second time in less than a week that the parties failed to meet a deadline to sign it.
The deal aims to restore Sudan’s short-lived transition to democracy, which was halted by the October coup that removed a Western-supported, power-sharing administration.
