Turkey to host Sudan summit

Turkey, along with Norway, is preparing for an important conference on Sudan, following comments by a visiting US official that Turkey has an important role to play in supporting the new state of South Sudan. The meeting in Turkey will be followed by a conference on South Sudan in September, this one hosted by the US, but also involving Turkey. "Norway and Turkey have agreed to host a conference for Sudan, and the United States agreed to host a conference with the African Union and Turkey for South Sudan," Raja Jandhyala, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) deputy assistant administrator for Africa, said in an interview. "We believe that Turkey has quite an important role to help us create a broad coalition of partners, both development and private-sector partners, to help South Sudan handle its challenges." Jandhyala was in Ankara on Friday for talks with the Foreign Ministry, Red Crescent Society (Kizilay), and Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) on how to build a broad international partnership for South Sudan after its declaration of independence early this month. Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize the new state.