Africa: U.S. Senior Sudan Advisors Travel to Bolster North-South and Darfur Peace Processes

Ambassador Princeton Lyman, U.S. Senior Advisor on North-South Negotiations, and Ambassador Dane Smith, U.S. Senior Advisor on Darfur, will travel to the region in early March to support U.S. efforts to promote peace and stability in Sudan.

Ambassador Lyman arrived in Ethiopia today, where he will participate in five days of talks between the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM) chaired by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on post-referendum economic issues. Throughout these discussions, Lyman will encourage the parties to finalize arrangements that will ensure a peaceful and cooperative North-South relationship after Southern Sudan’s independence. Following the talks in Addis, Ambassador Lyman will then travel to Khartoum and Juba to encourage progress on other outstanding Comprehensive Peace Agreement issues, including resolving the status of Abyei and advancing popular consultations for Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan.

Ambassador Dane Smith, U.S. Senior Advisor on Darfur, departs tomorrow, March 2, for Doha, Qatar. In Doha, Ambassador Smith will assess the state of on-going negotiations between the Government of Sudan and the Darfur rebel movements, and will urge the parties to reach a just, durable political agreement that addresses the root causes of the Darfur conflict.

Following his visit to Doha, Ambassador Smith will continue on to Khartoum, where he will meet with Sudanese leaders to discuss the link between the negotiations in Doha and a consultative political process on the ground, access issues for UNAMID and international NGOs, and opportunities for early recovery and voluntary returns. Ambassador Smith will then travel to Darfur, where he will visit El Fasher, El Geneina, and Nyala, and assess the security and humanitarian situation in several rural villages and internally displaced persons’ camps.