EU calls failure to hold Sudanese pre-dialogue meeting "setback"

The European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini here on Thursday said that the failure to initiate a genuine national dialogue of Sudan was "a setback for the welfare of the people of Sudan".

Mogherini made the remarks after the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) announced last Wednesday that it had indefinitely suspended the pre-dialogue preparatory meeting that was scheduled to take place in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa last week.

Mogherini reiterated that the EU called for a comprehensive solution to Sudan's conflicts and that this should lead to an inclusive political process that would provide peace and prosperity for Sudan.

"The EU continues to support the efforts of the African Union high level panel as well as other efforts to bring peace to Sudan," she said.

Violent clashes between armed rebel groups and government forces have forcibly displaced thousands throughout the country, especially in Darfur, South Kordofan, and in the Blue Nile States, leading to humanitarian crises, according to media reports and international aid agencies.

Khartoum has been fighting with the Sudanese Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector in Sudan's Darfur region since 2003 and with the rebels of the SPLM/northern sector at the South Kordofan and Blue Nile areas since 2011.

Nine rounds of negotiations between the government and the SPLM/ northern sector have failed to reach a peaceful settlement. Endit