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At UN, Sudanese Prime Minister says ‘great revolution has succeeded,’ country will rebuild, restore values

Abdalla Hamdok, Prime Minister of the Republic of the Sudan, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s 74th session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak
Abdalla Hamdok, Prime Minister of the Republic of the Sudan, addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s 74th session.

At UN, Sudanese Prime Minister says ‘great revolution has succeeded,’ country will rebuild, restore values

UN Affairs

The “great revolution” of Sudan has succeeded and the Government and people and will now rebuild and restore the values ​​of human coexistence and social cohesion in the country as they try and turn the page on three decades of “abhorrent oppression, discrimination and warfare,” Prime Minister Abdullah Adam Hamdok told the United Nations on Friday evening.

Addressing the General Assembly’s annual general debate, Mr. Hamdok said Sudan’s people, after months of mass protests, had recently prevailed “against a brutal and repressive regime,” and thanked the UN Security Council, the Assembly, the African Union and other international partners for their support.

“The Sudanese people are moving confidently and steadily on their way towards the future as a friend and equal partner with all peace-loving people of the world,” he said, explain that the country will now aim to transform its foreign policy from the one that’s prevailed the last three decades.

In this new approach, Khartoum will reach out to its regional neighbours and all other countries worldwide, with a true spirit of friendship, guided by its genuine belief in human values and the heritage of Sudanese wisdom, he said.  

Sudan pledges to uphold international law, human rights, and efforts to end discrimination, exploitation, injustice and inequality.  “We remain committed to maintaining international peace and security,” he said.

The revolution aims to end Sudan’s international and regional isolation, Mr. Hamdok continued, but reminded delegations that his country has inherited international sanctions, and it is on the list of State sponsors of terrorism. However, “it was the former regime that supported terrorism”, he explained, not Sudan’s people.

The sanctions have wreaked havoc on its population. “We call on the United States of America to remove Sudan from the list of” State sponsors of terrorism and cease punishing the population for acts committed by the previous regime.

He said that Sudan is determined to address the root causes of its civil wars: economic marginalization, and ethnic, cultural and religious discrimination. As such, in addition to promoting social coexistence and fostering a culture of peace and tolerance among all components of the Sudanese people, he declared his determination to move forward in this way by building a state of government, a state of citizenship, a state of balanced development, and a state of protecting the rights of Sudanese.

The country will address the situation of refugees and displaced people, “while compensating them for the damages incurred” by war, he said.  An additional challenge is the accumulated foreign debt inherited from the previous regime, and Sudan looks forward to the generosity of the international community.