Russian Foreign Ministry Representative Arrived In Sudan For CAR Peace Talks - Khartoum

Faizan Hashmi Published January 24, 2019 | 02:14 PM

Andrei Kemarsky, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Africa, arrived in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Wednesday to take part in peace talks on the Central African Republic (CAR), the head of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry's Department of Central Africa, Mohammed Yousef, told Sputnik on Thursday

KHARTOUM (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th January, 2019) Andrei Kemarsky, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Africa, arrived in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Wednesday to take part in peace talks on the Central African Republic (CAR), the head of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry's Department of Central Africa, Mohammed Yousef, told Sputnik on Thursday.

Later in the day, a new round of peace talks between the car government and militant leaders will start in Khartoum. As a source in the Sudanese Embassy in Russia told Sputnik, the talks may last for up to 10 days.

"On Wednesday, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Africa has arrived [in Khartoum] to take part in CAR peace talks that will start on Thursday evening in Khartoum," Yousef said.

He added that three CAR delegations would take part in the talks � a governmental delegation headed by the minister of presidential affairs and comprised of the leadership of the country's Foreign and Defense Ministries, and also an opposition delegation uniting representatives of 14 armed groups, along with a civic society delegation comprised of politicians, journalists, and families of the victims of the CAR conflict.

According to Yousef, representatives of the United Nations and the African Union are also going to take part in the talks, along with the foreign ministers of Gabon and Chad, and high-ranking diplomats from Congo and Equatorial Guinea.

The landlocked CAR has been suffering from a drawn-out conflict since a coup in 2013. Much of the fighting in recent years has been between Muslim-majority Seleka and Christian Anti-Balaka militias.