AU, UNTIAMS diverge over Sudan’s dialogue process: sources
May 10, 2022 (KHARTOUM)- The divergence of views within the tripartite mechanism over who is eligible to take part in the intra-Sudanese dialogue to end the political crisis in Sudan led to the postponement of the preliminary meeting.
The Trilateral Mechanism released a statement on Tuesday saying that the talks between the Sudanese parties would be held “in indirect format”.
The facilitators did not explain the reason behind this decision but added that they would issue regular communications to inform the public.
Sources close to the process said that a disagreement about who can take part in the process between the African Union Special Envoy Mohamed El-Hacen Ould Lebatt and Head of UNITAMS Volker Perthes.
“Ould Lebatt is actively seeking to involve political forces that were part of the ousted regime of President Omar al-Bashir, but Perthes opposes that because the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) reject the participation of the parties that are perceived as facades of the dissolved National Congress Party”.
The African Union Representative to the Sudan Mohamed Belaiche was not reachable for comment on this matter.
“Any document purporting to be part of the trilateral mechanism that are not issued on the AU, IGAD or UNITMAS official platforms are not endorsed or recognized by the mechanism,” reads the statement.
Mohamed Hamdan Daglo aka Hemetti, Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council said on Tuesday that the trilateral process should be inclusive for all the Sudanese parties “otherwise the disputes will resume and in a worse way this time,” he said.
“We now see that the dialogue is moving in a certain direction, and this will not serve the cause of the Sudanese people,” he underscored.
“The issue concerns all the 18 states of the Sudan, not just three streets,” he concluded.
Mutaz Salih, a member of the FFC leadership council told the Sudan Tribune that the AU envoy wants to hold the meeting without fulfilling the requirements of dialogue, while the UNITAMS insists on the need not to rush and wait until a number of requirements are met.
Salih went further to say that “Ould Lebatt want to impose his point of view”.
The FFC group say committed to the process but they would not participate before the implementation of the confidence-building measures including the release of all the political detainees, ending of violence against protesters and lifting of the state of emergency.
Meanwhile, a leading member of the National Umma Party (NUP), Orwa al-Sadiq, also attributed the postponement to the differences over who is eligible to participate in the process.
” The FFC believes that there are attempts to bring unknown groups to the dialogue table. Also, some components refuse to engage in the dialogue process due to the continuation of the repressive approach, (…) and the failure to lift the state of emergency,” al-Sadiq told the Sudan Tribune.
The NUP is the only FFC party that announced its readiness to take part in the dialogue process without any requirement saying there are enough guarantees that the military would accept to hand over power to civilians.
(ST)