david shinn a former deputy chief of mission at the u.s. embassy in sudan from kill in the u.k. we're joined by our will alow a senior lecturer at q university and also joining us from washington d.c. allie verjee a visiting researcher at the united states institutes of peace gentlemen thank you all for taking part in this discussion my 1st question goes see you ali verjee in washington d.c. my 1st question is was this inevitable in some way that we would see a cracked zone from the military after out after weeks of stalemates and. no progress being made on the transition of power. the warning signs have been there the military council has itself warned that it wasn't going to tolerate further disruption and in the last few days before today there have been several killings on the streets of khartoum so what's happened today in khartoum and also in other cities beyond the capital wasn't entirely surprising it is unfortunate it does suggest that the military council has been stalling for time the negotiations haven't really been going anywhere and now it has moved quite violently

david shinn a former deputy chief of mission at the u.s. embassy in sudan from kill in the u.k. we're joined by our will alow a senior lecturer at university and also joining us from washington d.c. allie verjee a visiting researcher at the united states institute of peace gentlemen thank you all for taking part in this discussion my 1st question goes see you ali verjee in washington d.c. my 1st question is was this inevitable in some way that we would see a cracked zone from the military after out after weeks of stalemates and. no progress being made on the transition of power. the warning signs have been there the military council has itself warned that it wasn't going to tolerate further disruption and in the last few days before today there have been several killings on the streets of khartoum so what's happened today in khartoum and also in other cities beyond the capital wasn't entirely surprising it is unfortunate it does suggest that the military council has been stalling for time the negotiations haven't really been going anywhere and now it has moved quite violently ag

well david shinn is a former deputy chief of mission at the u.s.embassy in seats on he joins us now live from washington d.c. david shinn the situation in sudan is rapidly deteriorating how is this being viewed by countries. by international partners i think you have a variety of views being expressed you have some that are being very cautious countries like egypt united arab emirates arabia who have relatively close ties to the transitional military council you have the western governments particularly european governments that are speaking out more forcefully against what is happening in sudan the u.s. position is close to the european position but seems to be somewhat more reluctant to take any action and then you have countries like china and russia who are basically standing back and not really doing very much on the issue also i don't see the africans in the african union doing as much as they might do this is time for the regional countries to stop up and condemn what's going on certainly the regional partners one could argue do you have a r

well david shinn this is a former deputy chief of mission that the u.s. mbassy in seats on he joins us now from washington d c david should we've been hearing the situation in sudan has been deteriorating rapidly how alarming is the situation would you say particularly given that people are being detained. is the army you nice is in this campaign it's carrying eyes i think the situation has deteriorated in a major way and i don't think that the security forces are totally united never the last the transitional military council is a power and it is responsible for what is happening even if the rapid support forces basically are paramilitary organization as the one that's carrying out the killing you cannot have a successful negotiations between the protest group and the security forces so long as the security forces are killing fellow said news that absolutely has to stop and intel that stops i don't see any prospect for meaningful negotiations the transitional military council says that it is investigating these incidents but realistically how could invest

well i've been speaking to david shinn who's a former deputy chief of mission at the u.s. embassy in sudan and he says the competing interests are making these negotiations very difficult indeed. well the key is always to trust but verify or frankly no one has any choice but to go forward with this and hope that indeed the transitional military council is sincere about pursuing an agreement with the opposition one must keep in mind that it represents many many different groupings and sudan's ards it's really not realistic to expect them to be in full agreement on everything this is to some extent a disorganized group but on the other hand it's surprisingly well organized in view of the pressure they continued to put on the military and to move forward with this important breakthrough of continuing negotiations and trying to pursue an outcome that will avoid the the deaths that occurred on june 3 s. so it's a very important step forward for the military could play a waiting game and this is where organisations like the african union the government of ethiopia which deserve

right let's speak now to david shinn in washington he's a former deputy chief of mission at the u.s. embassy in sudan a former u.s. ambassador as well to ethiopia it's a new knows the region well. first of all i'm just wondering do you think do you trust the transitional military council in their apparent agreement to follow this mediation proposal put forward by you and the a. well the key is always to trust but verify or frankly no one has any choice but to go forward with this and hope that indeed the transitional military council is about pursuing an agreement with the opposition right and what do you make of the. freedom and change coalition they haven't been exactly kahira and it would appear in terms of what their demands are and how they engage with the military council would you agree with that well to some extent that's true but one must keep in mind that it represents many many different groupings and sudan's that's really not realistic to expect them to be in full agreement on everything is to some extent a disorganized group but on the other hand it's surprisingly well o