Diplomatic ties scheduled to resume

The governments of Sudan and Uganda are expected to restore diplomatic relations - severed in 1996, with each of the two accusing the other of supporting the other’s rebel movements - through the formal exchange of diplomats next month, according to the ‘EastAfrican’ newspaper. Uganda has already identified diplomatic staff to be posted to Khartoum, and is expected to make a formal announcement later this week, it said. The ‘EastAfrican’ quoted senior sources at the Ugandan foreign ministry as saying that a delegation would soon be dispatched to Khartoum to secure accommodation with a view to reopening the mission before diplomatic staff are sent in next month. Khartoum had indicated that it had already made its choice of ambassador, and that a formal announcement was expected soon, the sources added.

Restoration of relations between Uganda and Sudan had been expected to be formalised in early June after a reconciliation agreed between the two, but the move was delayed by what sources described as renewed suspicion between the two countries as a result of the failure of Sudanese peace talks in Kenya, brokered by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development. Following the failure of the talks in Nairobi, Sudan accused Uganda of being behind June’s gains by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), in which the rebels captured several towns in Western Bahr al-Ghazal, the ‘EastAfrican’ reported.