EC seeks to restore dialogue with Sudan

The EC on Wednesday proposed renewing a dialogue with the Sudanese government, cut off in 1996 amid alleged human rights abuses, in order to promote peace, democracy and human rights. The Finnish foreign ministry’s Africa and Middle East director Tuunanen Heikki, leading a four-day mission to Khartoum, noted “some encouraging actions” by the government and said that, through dialogue, the EC could get to know how the government would implement measures it had taken to meet its declared objectives. These included “peace, democratisation, human rights and relations with neighbouring countries and the international community”. These were the central issues determining relations between the EC and other countries, AFP news agency quoted Heikki as saying.