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A6 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 11 June 2022
Sudan anti-coup group sits with generals for the first time

By NOHA ELHENNAWY other civilian groups that
CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s lead- would include clear steps
ing pro-democracy group on how to reverse the po-
has met with the country’s litical coup. This blueprint
generals for the first time will be handed over to the
since last year’s military international community,
coup, the U.S. Embassy said alliance leaders said at a
Friday, in what could signal news conference held on
a breakthrough in attempts Friday.
to bring the East African na- There has been no immedi-
tion back on track toward ate comment from the mili-
a democratic transition. tary.
The meeting held late The Forces for the Dec-
Thursday in the capital, laration of Freedom and
Khartoum, brought the Change had previously
Forces for the Declaration boycotted military-civilian
of Freedom and Change talks that kicked off earlier
an alliance of political par- this week under the auspic-
ties and protest groups to- es of the U.N. political mis-
gether with representatives sion in Sudan, the African
of the country’s ruling mili- Union, and the eight-nation
tary council. Dozens of people gather in front of the office of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance east African regional Inter-
The talks focused on resolv- Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) in support of Sudan’s military leaders, in Khartoum, Sudan, Wednesday, governmental Authority in
ing the current political im- June 1, 2022. Development group.
passe and were mediated Associated Press It had criticized the par-
by the Saudi Embassy and ticipation of pro-military
the U.S. delegation in Su- vilian government, return to world remain supportive bashin and Lt. Gen. Ibrahim groups and Islamists who
dan, the embassy said in a the barracks, end violence of the Sudanese people Gaber. had been allied with the
statement. against protesters and re- and the pro-democracy “The other party acknowl- former regime of longtime
“We thank the participants lease all detainees. forces,” said a statement edged that there is a politi- dictator Omar al-Bashir.
for their frank & construc- The pro-democratic alli- by the alliance, referring to cal crisis and said they are In April 2019, a popular up-
tive participation and for ance said that it had re- Saudi Arabia and the U.S. willing to solve it,” said pro- rising pushed the military
their willingness to end the ceived an invitation from The meeting, held in the democracy leader Taha to remove al-Bashir after
political crisis & to build a U.S. Assistant Secretary of Khartoum residence of the Othman, who attended nearly three decades of re-
peaceful, just and demo- State Mary Catherine Phee Saudi ambassador was at- the talks in reference to the pression and international
cratic Sudan,” it said. and Saudi Ambassador Ali tended by four of the alli- military. isolation. Eventually, the
Since the military took over bin Hassan Jaafar to meet ance’s leaders and three “They affirmed that they military and pro-democra-
in October, the same pro- directly with the generals, top military generals, in- had the sincere will to end cy groups signed a power-
democracy group has re- according to and FDFC cluding deputy head of the coup,” added Oth- sharing agreement that
fused to sit with the gen- statement. Sudan’s ruling Sovereign man. instated a joint military-ci-
erals at the negotiating “We are keen to have two Council, Gen. Mohamed The group said that it had vilian government that was
table, insisting they should of the most influential coun- Hamdan Dagalo, as well agreed to lay out a road- supposed to rule until gen-
first transfer power to a ci- tries in the region and the as Lt. Gen. Shams el-Din Ka- map in consultation with eral elections be held. q

Watchdog says Afghan Taliban detaining, torturing civilians

in Panjshir province since of the last remnants of Af- ment have vowed to resist
mid-May as anti-Taliban ghanistan’s shattered se- the Taliban.
forces there attacked Tal- curity forces. It has vowed “Taliban forces in Panjshir
iban units and checkpoints, to resist the Taliban after province have quickly re-
HRW said in a statement. they overrun the country sorted to beating civilians
The Taliban have respond- and seized power in Af- in their response to fight-
ed by deploying thousands ghanistan in mid-August. ing against the opposition
of fighters on search opera- Nestled in the towering Hin- National Resistance Front,”
tions targeting communities du Kush range, the Panjshir said Patricia Gossman, as-
they allege are supporting Valley has a single narrow sociate Asia director at Hu-
the opposition forces, the entrance. man Rights Watch.
group added. Local fighters held off the “The Taliban’s longstanding
“Taliban forces have com- Soviets there in the 1980s, failure to punish those re-
mitted summary executions and the Taliban a decade sponsible for serious abuses
and enforced disappear- later under the leadership in their ranks puts more civil-
Militiamen loyal to Ahmad Massoud, son of the late Ahmad Shah ances of captured fighters of Ahmad Shah Massoud, ians at risk,” Gossman was
Massoud, take part in a training exercise, in Panjshir province,
northeastern Afghanistan, on Aug. 29, 2021. and other detainees, which a guerrilla fighter who at- quoted in the statement.
Associated Press are war crimes,” both in tained near-mythic status Taliban officials have not
Panjshir and elsewhere in before he was killed in a commented on the HRW
By RAHIM FAIEZ residents accused of as- Afghanistan, it said. suicide bombing. statement.
Associated Press sociation with an opposi- The force fighting in the His 33-year-old foreign- Their troops in Panjshir are
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban tion armed group, the New mountainous Panjshir Val- educated son, Ahmad under the command of the
security forces in northern York-based Human Rights ley north of Kabul a remote Massoud, and several top Taliban-appointed defense
Afghanistan have unlaw- Watch said Friday. region that has defied con- officials from the ousted minister, Mullah Moham-
fully detained and tortured Fighting has escalated querors before rose out Western-backed govern- mad Yaqoob.q