US leaves door open to conditional talks with Sudan's military

WASHINGTON

The US left the door open on Tuesday to talks with Sudan's military, but emphasized that any such discussions must be geared towards the restoration of the deposed transitional government.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said he is unaware of any conversations between US officials and the Sudanese military following its ouster of the government on Monday, but said Washington is receptive to dialogue if "we feel that it be would constructive."

"If it would be useful to help achieve the objective that we and our partners have set out – that is, a restoration of the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people, a restoration of the civilian-led transitional government – if we feel that direct engagement with a military leader would be useful, we wouldn’t shy away from doing that," said Price.

"But at this point we haven’t done that yet," he added.

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and a number of ministers in his civilian government were detained by the military on Monday amid tension in the country.

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan's military council, announced a state of emergency on Monday, dissolved the transitional sovereign council and the government, and suspended some provisions of the constitutional document outlining the political transition in Sudan.

After a failed military coup last month, deep tensions erupted between the military and the civilian administration in Sudan following rival protests in the capital Khartoum.

Before the military takeover, Sudan was administered by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials, which oversaw the transition period until elections slated for 2023, as part of a precarious power-sharing pact between the military and the Forces for Freedom and Change coalition.