Sudan Perspective. President Basheir Tours Darfur

Transcription

1 Page 1 Sudan Perspective President Basheir Tours Darfur President Basheir toured Darfur for five days (1-5 April) accompanied by Dr. Tijani Sese (chairperson of the Darfur Regional Authority) and several Ministers, including the information Minister Dr A. Bilal. The President was received by huge crowds of citizens in the five states of Darfur. He spoke to the public gatherings, held meetings with local leaders and inaugurated many projects. Media outlets from all over the world covered the tour. The UK was well-represented by a BBC team and a representative of FIRST magazine. The President emphasised the new era in Darfur after the end of rebels. The President told the citizens that reconstruction will come gradually, with hundreds of development projects already completed. Those development projects which could be demonstrated, for instance, by the model villages and the solar energy fully operated hospital recently established in the Region; the only hospital of its kind in all over Sudan! He also said that the door of peace is still open for all who would like to join. HE further affirmed that security measures in the region are advancing in fast steps confirming that security and stability in the region are among his government s priorities. Monthly Newsletter, issued by the Media Office Embassy of the Republic of The Sudan May 2016

2 Page 2 Peace Roadmap Blocked The top AU panel; African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), led by former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki and assigned by the AU to foster and facilitate the peace process in Sudan between the Government and the opposition, prepared a Roadmap for peace in the country. The AUHIP presented the Roadmap to the Sudanese government and the opposition during the strategic consultations that took place in Addis Ababa from 18th to the 21st of March. The Government, while having reservations about the Roadmap, decided to sign it as a signal of its willingness to engage in a process that would hopefully lead to a permanent settlement to the conflict in the two areas and that other Darfur rebel movements would join the peace process. The opposition; namely the Justice and Equality Movement, Sudan s Liberation Movement (Minawi s faction), Sudan People s Liberation Movement-North, and the National Umma Party (Sadiq Elmahadi s faction), however refused to sign without providing any viable alternative to the peace process. The President s Assistant, Eng. Ibraheim Hamid signing the Roadmap Agreement with Mr. Thabo Mbeki The Sudanese government, on its side, has signed in order to kick-start peaceful steps; an action that was commended by the AU Commission in its press release issued on 23rd March. The Commission further called upon the refusing parties to abstain from issuing public statements that would jeopardize the peace process in Sudan. The UN and EU also called upon the negotiating opposition factions to sign. Then the troika on Sudan (USA - UK - Norway) appealed to the same and even put pressure on the opposition during the latter s meeting in Paris last April. The UK also commended the Government for signing the Roadmap and called upon the opposition factions to do the same. The signing of this roadmap by the Government of Sudan, despite the reservations, would only indicate its eagerness to see stability and everlasting peace achieved in the country; the Government is simply sticking to its strong belief of attaining these two valuable aims through peaceful talks and negotiations.

3 Page 3 Darfur Referendum The Darfur Administrative Referendum was held during the period 11 to 13 April 2016 as a commitment by the Government of the Sudan towards the requirements of the Doha Document For Peace In Darfur which it signed in 2011 with some of Darfur rebel movements and was endorsed by the UN and AU as well as the US and UK. The Document was (as its text stipulated) later included in the Sudanese constitution. The main aim of the Referendum was to allow the people of Darfur to choose between the current five-state structure or return to the single State (region). Comparatively, Darfur is approximately the size of France. France is divided into 13 Regions. Many international observers have praised the smooth running and high percentage of voter participation. Some voices in the West have criticised the referendum and called for its postponement. On 23 April, the results became known. At a press conference it was declared that 3,081,976 Darfurians, representing 97.72% of voters, chose the 5 state option. The voters registration percentage reached 77.4% in an indication of the free will of the Darfurian people to participate in deciding the destiny of their sprawling region. It is noteworthy as well that 102 observers from all over the world participated in monitoring this peaceful act of democracy. The leader of the Darfur Regional Authority, Dr Tijani Sese, who was part of the opposition until he accepted the Doha Document, has now accepted the results of the Referendum. The Darfur Regional Authority was established as a result of the Doha Peace Document. If the Government and the Regional Authority have not held the Referendum, they would have been accused of breaching the Doha Document and breaking their promises of committing to it. The Referendum was the last major task of the Darfur Regional Authority whose term of office will end in July 2016.

4 Page 4 Democratisation in the Sudan On 20 April, the Deputy Head of Mission, Ambassador Omer El Amein Abdallah opened a launch of the Pamphlet Democratisation in the Sudan since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The pamphlet, which was based on a paper presented by the Media Attache Dr Khalid Al Mubarak at the University of Cambridge last October, was a personal not official point of view. The launch was organised by Okra Express which invited the distinguished British journalist Jonathan Steele to review the paper. He noted that the pamphlet was not mere repetition of official statements. He also said that neither Tunisia nor Jordan had entry visa requirements for foreign journalists and quoted the pamphlet that Sudan loses if foreign journalists do not visit often, since it has nothing to hide. He went on to say that Sudan s development need to be rooted in its own culture. From Left to right: Barrister Kevin Metzger, Ambassador Omer Elamein, Dr. Khalid Elmubarak, and Mr Jonathan Steele During the launch and discussions, HE Omer El Amein spoke about the unfairness of the unilateral US sanctions that are decimating Sudan's industry, agriculture, banking and medical services. He criticised the concept of "family -centred" political parties. In his presentation, Mr Steele praised President Bashir's speech in Juba before the Selfdetermination Referendum and described it as "gracious". Many who attended contributed to the discussion, including Professor Mohamed Bagadi, former Ambassador Farouq Abdulrahman, Dr Babiker Ismael, Mr Rod Usher, the Sudanese Consul, and Minister Plenipotentiary Mohamed Akasha. The event continued for two hours at Abrar House, London and ended with networking.

5 Page 5 Visit By House Of Lords Delegation To Sudan A delegation from the House of Lords visited Sudan from 14 th to 19 th of last February; the delegation was headed by Lord Sheikh and included a number of crossparty members of the House of Lords. The purpose of the visit, which was coordinated with the assistance of the Embassy, was to explore the current actual situation in Sudan with the intention of working towards contributing in improving and advancing bilateral relations between Sudan and the United Kingdom on multiple sides like trade and commercial, cultural and political relations besides other areas of cooperation like health. The delegation managed to meet with a number of dignitaries, ministries and institutes such as the Vice President of the Republic, Speakers of Parliament, Foreign Minister, Bank of Sudan, University of Khartoum, and a number of local NGOs. The delegation could closely assess the situation in Sudan and the comprehensive political process that was then in place through what is called the National Dialogue; an initiative that was made by President Basheir to bring together all the different Sudanese political parties and factions at one table. Lord Sheikh (left) and his delegation during their visit

6 Page 6 Reception Of Mashrouy Winners! The Embassy received the first 3 winners of the third season of Mashrouy TV Project on Friday 15 th of April. The visit came upon coordination with the British Council-Sudan that supervises the TV Programme which is the Sudanese combination of the US s The Apprentice and the UK s The Lion s Den. The winners were accompanied by Mr Wael Musa from the British Council Sudan and Mr Mohammed Elsayed from the Sudanese Young Businessmen Association who travelled with the three winners throughout their visit to the UK. The 3 winners respectively, all of them being ladies, are Houida Mokhtar; who developed a vaccination from tobacco plants to guard against agricultural parasites, Maha Abdelhadi; who improved the functionality of an existing software that is used to examine breast cancer where it became able to distinguish between benign and cancerous tumours, and Abrar Yousif who developed a process through which leather can be processed and tanned using natural materials that are health and environment-friendly. The Three Winners The Embassy was represented during the reception with the Head of Mission, Ambassador Mohammed Eltom, along with his deputy and the Military, Political and Media Attachés, as well as the Second Secretary and some of the local staff like Uncle Othman Yusuf, who became one of the Embassy s long living symbols having been working for it even before the independence of Sudan in January It is noteworthy that the Embassy was honoured before by the programme for its role in facilitating and assisting in issuing visas for the experts travelling from UK to participate in the programme. The Winners with Uncle Othman and Embassy staff

7 Page 7 SALAMT Doctors honoured by The Embassy On Saturday 7th May Ambassador Eltom hosted in his residence in Willesden Green members of SALAMAT Doctors Charity, which is a charitable organization of medical professionals the aim of which is to deliver medical care and education to the people of Sudan, and is based in London. The Embassy wanted to honour the Charity s long-term good and philanthropy achievements in Sudan. SALAMAT represents a real Sudanese success in the UK. The Ambassador s residence was full of SALAMAT members who were accompanied by their spouses, along with representatives from the Sudanese community in London, and of course the Embassy s staff who would never miss such an opportunity to meet and interact with a group of enthusiastic doctors, Sudanese and non-sudanese, Ambassador Eltom delivering his speech Contact us: Tel: info@sudan-embassy.co.uk Address: 3 Cleveland Row, St James s, London SW1A 1DD who are willing and working towards assisting and supporting the people of Sudan in this field. Ambassador Eltom in a speech described SALAMAT as an exemplary community-based professional organization which, building on the commitment and dedication of its members, seeks to make a positive impact on the lives of the Sudanese people. SALAMAT includes a number of nonsudanese British doctors who regularly travel to Sudan to participate in SALAMAT s missions over there and who added to the beauty of the event that night at HE s residence with their presence. Dr Elammas (standing at the centre) and Prof. Jalil Ali to the right, from SALAMAT Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan Monthly Newsletter May 2016 Editor: Musab Ismail Designer: Nada Sayed Kambal