Over the next week, President Obama’s Special Envoy to Sudan, General Scott Gration, will make stops in four different countries considered key to reigniting a comprehensive peace process for Sudan.
He sets off this weekend for China, where he will meet with senior Chinese officials, including China’s representative to Darfur, Liu Guijin. Special Envoy Gration and Representative Liu will then meet with Darfur special envoys from Russia, the United Kingdom, France and the European Union in Doha, Qatar, “to align positions on the Darfur peace process under the leadership of United Nations-African Union Joint Chief Mediator Bassolé,” according to the U. S. State Department statement about the trip.
From Doha, Special Envoy Gration will travel to London, where he will meet with senior British officials, reconvene the Sudan Troika – Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States – and take part in a meeting of the Sudan Contact Group that includes officials from Canada, the European Union, France, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. These high-level meetings will focus on issues related to the implementation Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), according to the State Department.
As Enough advisor Omer Ismail explained:
This is a very important trip because it is critical to get China engaged and to push the Troika – the group that originally provided the will and support of the international community to get actors in northern and southern Sudan to negotiate the CPA – to ensure that the CPA is implemented in good faith. The Troika, with the leadership of the United States, will also be instrumental in brokering a just, equitable, and lasting peace in Darfur.
Photo: President Obama and Sudan Special Envoy Scott Gration AP/Evan Vucci