Ambassador Princeton N. Lyman, U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan, departs today for meetings in Sudan, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. In Khartoum and Juba, Ambassador Lyman will urge Sudanese and South Sudanese leaders to restart stalled negotiations on outstanding post-Comprehensive Peace Agreement arrangements, specifically on issues related to border security, financial arrangements, and currency.
Special Envoy Lyman will also press the parties for an immediate end to conflict and unfettered humanitarian access in the Southern Kordofan region of Sudan. Negotiations have yet to resume on ending this conflict, and the Sudanese government and northern-aligned forces continue to engage in deeply troubling acts of politically and ethnically motivated violence as the fighting continues.
In Addis Ababa, Special Envoy Lyman will meet with former South African President Thabo Mbeki and the African Union High Level Implementation Panel and with Ethiopian political and military officials in support of Ethiopia’s ongoing deployment of peacekeepers to the contested Abyei Area. He will also attend Sudan negotiations being organized by the African Union High Level Panel.
The United States has been deeply engaged in Sudan, having helped to broker the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended decades of civil war between the country’s north and south. U.S. diplomatic and development efforts supported the conduct of a peaceful, on-time referendum on independence for Southern Sudan in January 2011. The United States supports international efforts to promote full and timely implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, to reach a definitive end to the conflict in Darfur, and to ensure that Sudan does not provide a safe haven for international terrorists. In the years ahead, the United States will remain a steadfast partner of the Sudanese people.
Learn more about the Special Envoy for Sudan at: http://www.state.gov/s/sudan
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