In a recent interview with Radio Dabanga, Enough Project Senior Advisor Dr. Suliman Baldo warned that President Omar al-Bashir’s recent statements and actions should serve as a warning to U.S. officials that the Sudanese regime is not negotiating in good faith and places little value on their adherence to international agreements.
In the interview, Dr. Baldo points to President Omar al-Bashir’s recent speech at the celebration of the 29th anniversary of the Popular Defence Forces in Kosti in White Nile state and said that it “shows that he has no intention of making concessions to the USA regarding the ongoing negotiations on the six conditions to remove Sudan from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.” He added, “… this contradiction presented by Al Bashir in Kosti has precedents and indicates the lack of institutional decision-making and policies in Sudan. This leads to the weakening of confidence in Sudan as a state in terms of adherence to the positions taken in the international arena and bilateral negotiations in a sensitive matter such as lifting sanctions.”
Dr. Baldo also noted that in November last year, shortly after the United States lifted economic and trade sanctions, President Bashir “paid a visit to Russia and asked President Putin to protect Sudan from U.S. intentions and policies, and demanded the establishment of a naval base on the Red Sea to ensure the protection of Sudan from the USA.”
The State Department recently announced the “Phase II” bilateral engagement framework designed to expand U.S.-Sudan “bilateral cooperation, facilitate meaningful reforms to enhance stability in Sudan” and said that the United States was prepared “to initiate the process of rescinding Sudan’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism if the determination is made that all of the relevant statutory criteria have been met.”
Click here to read Dr. Baldo’s full interview with Radio Dabanga.
Click here to read Dr. Baldo’s latest report on the economic crisis in Sudan: “Sudan’s Self-Inflicted Economic Meltdown: With a Corrupt Economy in Crisis, the Bashir Regime Scrambles to Consolidate Power”