Senator Kerry praises Khartoum, gives cowboy hat to S. Sudan leader

The United States Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Khartoum earlier this week, North Darfur on Friday and South Sudan on Saturday until today. During a visit to the region’s Presidential Palace yesterday, Kerry presented a cowboy hat to South Sudan President Salva Kiir. The hat appeared to be a nearly identical replica of the former guerrilla fighter’s signature hat. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni often wears a hat of a similar style.Yesterday after giving Kiir the hat, Kerry made an unscheduled appearance at a press conference in Juba. In his remarks, he referred to possible steps to improve relations between Sudan and the United States, including potentially removing Sudan and Sudanese leaders from the sanctions lists. The comments are in line with his praise offered Wednesday to ruling party officials in Khartoum, whom he called “very positive, very constructive,” adding “the speech by President Bashir here (December 31) as well as his comments in Juba yesterday are extremely encouraging.” He was referring to a speech in which President Bashir committed himself to recognizing the outcome of the referendum in South Sudan.

Kerry on Friday had visited the governor of North Darfur in El Fasher. He also made a short rip to Shangil Tobaya, a town formerly held by SLA-Minawi that fell to a government assault in December. There, he addressed crowds of people displaced by the fighting.

Radio Dabanga confirmed that Senator Kerry was in Sudan since as early as Wednesday. The UN Mission in Darfur reported he arrived in the country on Tuesday. The Senator has now made three visits to Sudan since last October. His highest-level meeting in Khartoum, as far as is known, was with Ghazi Salah Al Din, an advisor to Bashir. In related news, an US official dismissed as untrue reports in the Khartoum press last week that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit Khartoum.