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Innocent Ruwende Senior Reporter
President Mnangagwa has called for peaceful transition in Sudan following last month’s ouster of former president Omar al-Bashir by the military on the back of popular uprisings.

Outgoing Sudanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Abdelbagi Hamdan Kabeir, who bade farewell to President Mnangagwa yesterday at his Munhumutapa offices, said the President has sent him with a message to the authorities in Khartoum.

“He has given good advice that the ruling authorities there see to it that peace prevails and the transition becomes peaceful. I value his advice very highly and I will take it to Sudan.

“He has also given me messages to take back home to his colleague and counterpart as you all know that Sudan is experiencing a change,” he said.

The African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) have said they support a civilian-led transitional government in Sudan.

Ambassador Kabeir said he enjoyed his stay in Zimbabwe, adding that it felt “like home”.

“It has been one-and-a-half years since I have been here. It has been a very wonderful time, very productive. I have just bade farewell to his Excellency (President Mnangagwa). He gave me good advice. I thank him for his instructions and the cooperation that I got all the time that I was here. Zimbabwe is my home and I hope to come back here as a private citizen.”

Ambassador Kabeir said Sudan and Zimbabwe’s relations have been showing steady progress since the time he was posted to Harare.

“The cooperation has quite been high. The problem we have in both countries is that we all suffer the illegal sanctions that were imposed by some of the European countries.

“They have actually impeded progress on the economic and investment arena.

“But we have good cooperation in other areas. In the investments sector we have expertise in local mining and we are also benefiting from Zimbabwean expatriates in the field of education. We have quite a sizeable number of Zimbabweans,” he said.

He added that during his stay in the country, he had promoted the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra and expects his predecessor to to build on that and attract more Sudanese investors.

Ambassador Kabeir said there are areas for further cooperation that can be explored by the two countries going forward.

The ambassador arrived in Harare on November 16, 2017 when the country was experiencing its own transition after the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) intervened to defuse a potentially volatile situation following the capture of State systems by former First Lady Grace Mugabe and her G40 cabalists.