The head of Sudan's ruling military council held talks on Thursday with the senior US diplomat for Africa, who was visiting Khartoum to encourage a transition to democracy two months after the overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir. Tibor Nagy, the US assistant secretary of state for Africa, met with Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, said the council, which released a photo of the meeting. Veteran diplomat Donald Booth, who was appointed US envoy to Sudan on Wednesday, was also present. “Burhan expressed Sudan's aspiration to strengthen its relations with the United States as a superpower that has a positive role which the Sudanese people looks up to,” the military council said in a statement. The United States was helping the ongoing political negotiations between the council and the opposition, it added. Stalled talks between the council and an alliance of opposition groups over who should control a three-year transition towards elections collapsed after a June 3 raid on a protest sit-in that left dozens dead. Stability in the nation of 40 million is crucial for a volatile region struggling with conflict and insurgencies from the Horn of Africa to Egypt and Libya. Nagy already met with the opposition alliance and held talks with Sudan's acting Deputy Foreign Minister Ilham Ibrahim on Wednesday.