Sudan’s ruling party says ignoring Egyptian proposals over opposition percentage

Oct 8, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese ruling National Congress (NC) party said it was not informed of Egyptian Libyan proposal over the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) percentage of representation in the government of National Unity.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, right, watches his Sudanese counterpart Lt. Gen. Omar el-Bashir, left, as he shakes hands with National Democratic Alliance ( NDA) chairman Mohammed Osman Mirghani, center, after signing the Sudanese reconciliation accord in Cairo between the Sudanese government and the National Democratic Alliance, an umbrella opposition grouping, Saturday, June 18, 2005. Arabic slogan read as Cairo accord. (AP).

In a press statement to the pro-ruling NC Sudanese Media Center, the secretary for foreign relation Kamal Ebaid said that percentage offered for NDA could not be amended, because many things have been arranged according to.

He further added that NC didn’t receive officially any proposal in this direction.

Egypt has been very involved in reconciliation efforts between NDA and the Sudanese regime to guarantee the participation of the Sudanese opposition alliance in the new government.

Sudanese NDA said Thursday Oct 6, 2005 that the allocation of only two seats in Khartoum’s new national unity Cabinet was unsatisfactory and asked for negotiations to increase its share. Nonetheless the opposition alliance accepted the 20 parliamentary seats offered to it, saying that taking part in the legislative authority will enable it to monitor the government’s performance, defend freedoms and help implement peace agreements.

The NDA, an umbrella opposition group, includes a dozen or so largely northern political parties, trade union representatives and the southern rebel SPLM.

The group has been battling both politically and militarily the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir ever since he came to power in a military coup in 1989.

The Sudanese government and the NDA signed a reconciliation agreement on June 18, 2005 which paved the way for discussions on the formation of a new government.

Under the reconciliation agreement, the NDA will be incorporated into a power-sharing government being set up under the government’s peace deal with the main southern rebel army, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

(ST)