Roundup: Khartoum welcomes U.S. "positive" stances towards Sudan

Sudan welcomed the U.S. officials' recent statements which reflected positive stances towards the war-torn country.

On Saturday, the U.S. envoy for Sudan and South Sudan Donald Booth, who is currently visiting Sudan's Darfur region, told reporters that "war and arms are no longer the appropriate way to resolve Sudan's issues."

He explained that Washington has asked the Chief African Mediator Thabo Mbeki to put pressure on the Sudanese armed groups and reject opposition forces to join Sudan's national dialogue.

Booth's statements came contrary to previous U.S. stances that regarded the national dialogue conference, which recently concluded, as not leading to resolving Sudan's issues because key players did not participate in it.

On Oct. 10, the national dialogue conference concluded its sessions and approved the dialogue's national document which is to be the base for the country's permanent constitution.

However, major armed movements have refused to participate in the conference, including the Revolutionary Front Alliance, which brings together the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector and the major Darfur armed movements, besides major political parties, top of them the opposition National Umma Party.

The second U.S. stance was represented in a statement attributed to Mark Toner, U.S. deputy spokesperson of the State Department, which was widely reported by local Sudanese media Saturday and in which he urged South Sudan government to stop supporting Sudanese armed groups.

"The United States calls on the Government of the Republic of South Sudan to comply with its commitments to cease harboring or providing support for Sudanese armed opposition groups, as required by UN Security Council Resolution 2046," said Toner in the statement.

Sudan's foreign ministry welcomed the stance of the U.S. State Department and regarded it as a "positive stance."

The ministry reiterated in a press release the importance for the South Sudanese government to fulfil its commitments recently signed with Sudan to expel the Sudanese armed groups and preventing them from launching any armed act from its territories against Sudan in accordance with the security arrangements agreement signed by the two countries.

In a related development, the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Friday availed South Sudan until the end of current year to implement the agreements signed between the two sides.

In September 2012, Sudan and South Sudan signed a cooperation agreement in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa under the patronage of the African Union.

The agreement included a package of understandings related to security, citizens' status, border and economic issues and others related to oil and trade. However, the signed agreements did not tackle the issues of Abyei and border demarcation.

The border issue is the biggest obstacle to the settlement of differences between Sudan and South Sudan.

Khartoum repeatedly accuses Juba of supporting and sheltering the rebels of Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector, which are fighting the government at South Kordofan and Blue Nile areas, besides the armed groups which are fighting in Sudan's Darfur region.

The Sudan-U.S. ties have been characterized by continued tension where the U.S. has been imposing sanctions on Sudan since 1997 and putting it on its list of countries sponsoring terrorism.

Since then, Washington has been renewing its sanctions on Sudan due to the continuing war in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions besides a number of outstanding issues with South Sudan, including the disputed oil-rich area of Abyei.

However, in February 2015, the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it had decided to loosen the sanctions on Sudan via allowing exports of personal communications hardware and software, including smart phones and laptops.

It said the move aimed at helping the Sudanese citizens integrate into the global digital community.

In October last year, Washington also expressed readiness to cooperate with Sudan in the field of counter-terrorism.

According to economic reports, Sudan's losses due to the U.S. sanctions amounted to over four billion U.S. dollars annually.

Sudan has also been witnessing an escalating economic crisis since the secession of South Sudan in 2011, which has greatly affected the Sudanese economy as the country lost around 70 percent of its oil revenues. Endit