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External Relations Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail on Tuesday told the National Assembly that the government was following up the movements and activities of US Special Envoy to Sudan Harry Johnston “without taking any hasty position of rejecting or accepting him”. He would still be allowed to visit Sudan “to get first-hand information about the country from the real sources” if he made an official request to do so. Johnston was appointed by President Bill Clinton in August in what the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has described as a hostile climate, particularly in the US Congress, to Sudan. Johnston’s appointment is aimed at pressing for improvements in the human rights situation in Sudan - especially on alleged support for slavery and persecution of Christians - while seeking ways to end the war.
Washington has also announced an extension from three to five years of its Sudan Transitional Assistance for Rehabilitation (STAR) programme that provides “democratisation training” to opposition and other groups in southern Sudan, while so far resisting pressure from Congress to supply the SPLA with direct logistical and military aid, the EIU reported on Monday.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions