I am delighted to sincerely congratulate President Csaba Korosi on his election to lead the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session and to wish him every success. We also express our appreciation for the efforts of his predecessor, Mr. Abdulla Shahid, President of the Assembly at its seventy-sixth session. We greatly value the theme of this session of the Assembly and call for more international solidarity, joint multilateral action and the activation of cooperation mechanisms in order to find sustainable solutions to global challenges and reduce their negative repercussions for all peoples, particularly in countries emerging from conflict and less developed countries.
I am pleased to be giving an overview of political developments in the Sudan and reiterating our commitment to achieving peace and promoting mechanisms for a peaceful transition in order to establish full democracy, and by holding fair and transparent elections by the end of the transition period to establish a civilian regime that represents every Sudanese citizen. In order to ensure that opportunities for entering into dialogue and holding consultations are available to all, we announced in an armed forces communique that we were withdrawing the military as an institution from that dialogue and from participation in the Government. The aim is to enable the political and revolutionary forces that believe in the democratic transition and the goals of the people’s great December revolution to form a civilian Government under leadership of national competence. All except the National Party would participate in the Government in order to fulfil the remaining requirements of the transitional period. In that regard, we reiterate our commitment to cooperating with the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS) in keeping with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, the UNITAMS mandate set forth in Security Council resolution 2559 (2020) and the list of requests from the Sudan to the United Nations. We also reiterate our continued cooperation with the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei.
We emphasize that we are positively considering the many initiatives aimed at achieving national accord in the Sudan, particularly the national initiatives that have been subject to intense consultations in which various civilian stakeholders participate, such as political parties, youth and revolutionary elements, civil- society organizations and signatories to the Juba Peace Agreement. We hope that can lead to a broad consensus that will ultimately enable a democratic transition to take place through the holding of free and transparent elections. In order to achieve that national accord, we have provided all the necessary support to the tripartite mechanism led by UNITAMS, the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Despite that support, the mechanism has taken up a great deal of time without actually fulfilling its goals, which has complicated the discussions of the national accord.
Our efforts since the December revolution have resulted in the signing of the Juba Peace Agreement, which has mitigated the conflict in Darfur and improved security and stability in the region. In that regard, we call on our brothers Abdul Aziz Al-Hilu and Abdel Wahid Mohamed Nour to join the peace march and work together to build the Sudan of the future.
In the Darfur region, and following the achievement of peace and community reconciliation, the rate of voluntary return of displaced persons has increased and the first group of the joint forces has been established to protect civilians. In that regard, we urge the international community to provide us with assistance in advancing peace efforts pursuant to the Juba Peace Agreement.
Despite the acknowledged challenges that our country is addressing domestically, the Sudan has been playing a positive and constructive role in supporting peace and achieving stability and development in our region, as well as through its effective role in implementing the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. We have also been cooperating with our brothers in Somalia. Moreover, and in coordination with the African Union, the Sudan has played a role in
reaching a peace agreement in our sister nation of the Central African Republic and has participated actively in meetings to promote peace, security and cooperation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Furthermore, we led efforts to promote development and cooperation among countries in the Horn of Africa and East Africa during our presidency of the IGAD summit. We are also continuing our joint border-control activities with our neighbour and sister nation Chad and are keen to coordinate and follow up with the relevant stakeholders with a view to helping our neighbour Libya establish security. The Sudan has also undertaken major efforts to fight terrorism, human trafficking, transnational crime and organized crime and is cooperating with all relevant countries and organizations in that regard. We are firm in our support to all peoples in exercising their legitimate rights in line with international legislation.
The Sudan is working tirelessly to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), because we believe deeply in the value of the outcome document of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In that connection, the transitional Government adopted a strategic document on poverty reduction for the period from 2021 to 2023 and presented its second voluntary national report in July 2021. Needless to say, while we are continuing those efforts, we still need assistance from our brothers, friends and international development partners in standing with the Sudan. We reiterate our full commitment to implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda so that our recovery process can be more flexible and sustainable. However, external debt is a real obstacle hindering my country’s ability to promote socioeconomic development through the implementation of the SDGs. As we are all aware, the Sudan is eligible to benefit from the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, and I therefore call on the international community and all our brotherly and friendly countries to honour the commitments and obligations they made at the related meetings in Paris and Berlin in 2020 and 2021, considering that the Sudan has enacted all the legislation required to enable it to benefit from debt relief.
The crisis brought on by high food and energy prices demands further international cooperation. In that context, we reiterate that the Sudan is qualified to receive assistance in achieving food security at the regional and international levels. From this rostrum, I call on the United Nations and its specialized agencies, as well as regional organizations and brotherly and friendly countries, to support my country’s efforts to meet that goal through the transfer of agricultural technology, capacity-building and support for agricultural research centres.
The Sudan has hosted millions of brotherly refugees from across the continent for decades and has kept its doors open to them. We have shared our limited resources with them and provided them with protection despite a difficult economic situation that is familiar to all. Considering how that situation is being exacerbated by the effects of climate change, drought, floods and insufficient humanitarian assistance, we urge for a collective commitment to providing assistance, led by the relevant United Nations agencies, donor countries, brothers and friends, in support of the communities that host the refugees.
In the area of disarmament, the proliferation of small arms and light weapons is a priority for the Sudan. Like many developing countries, the Sudan suffers from the effects of this dangerous phenomenon, which so often has economic and social repercussions and has been spreading among tribes and population groups, making the task of collecting such weapons extremely difficult. We are more conscious than most of this dangerous problem and the importance of eradicating it through regional and international cooperation.
With regard to the issue of Security Council reform, we approach it within the context of the Common African Position. The Sudan’s position vis-a-vis the informal intergovernmental negotiations on reform is based on stressing the importance and centrality of Security Council reform and the need for it to be comprehensive, including by encompassing the Council’s working methods, in order to address the negative effects of current practices, which are visible in the fact that texts are often drafted unilaterally and individual penholders wield control over countries on the Council’s agenda.
In conclusion, I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to all the brother nations that have stood by my country in the most difficult times. We urge the United Nations and the international community, along with our friends and brothers, to continue to show even greater solidarity with our country during this stage of its development.