Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour is expected to arrive to the United States on Wednesday, heading his country’s delegation to the meetings of the 72nd UN General Assembly. Prior to his departure on Tuesday, Ghandour briefed Prime Minister Bakri Hassan Saleh on the arrangements made for Sudan’s participation in the General Assembly’s annual meeting, which will be held on September 18 in New York, as well as the meetings he is expected to hold with some US officials and which will tackle bilateral relations between Khartoum and Washington. In remarks to the media, the Sudanese foreign ministry’s spokesperson, Al-Qariballah al-Khodr, said that Ghandour would deliver Sudan’s speech before the UN General Assembly on September 23, and will meet with a number of regional and foreign counterparts, as well as with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The Sudanese foreign minister will also participate in high-level meetings on southern Sudan and Central Africa and peacekeeping operations, which will be held on the sidelines of the UN meetings. On a different note, ten African countries, representing the East African Emergency Forces known as ISAF, are preparing to conduct the “multi-polar peacekeeping” exercise in Khartoum next November. Several countries are expected to participate in the exercise, including Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Comoros and Djibouti. The deputy Chief of Staff of the Sudanese Army Yehya Mohammed Khair conducted a visit to the Red Sea governorate on Monday to oversee the preparations for hosting armies participating in the exercises. ISAF, which includes 10 east African nations, was established by the African Union in 2004, and it consists of military, police and civilian components. The force is part of Africa’s standby forces.