SPLM-N Democratic Current raises reservations on Addis political process outcome
June 6, Addis Ababa — The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, Revolutionary Democratic Current led by Yasir Arman, issued a set of formal reservations on Friday regarding the preparatory committee document and the final statement produced by the first meeting of the political process in Addis Ababa.
In a statement by the movement’s deputy president Buthaina Dinar, the movement said the political process was marked by “significant shortcomings” and failed to abide by what had previously been agreed between the Sumoud Alliance and the Declaration of Principles forces.
The movement said it participated in the meeting but demanded that the design of the political process agreed upon with the Quintet mechanism be honoured before implementation proceeded. It said the current track is not organically linked to addressing the humanitarian catastrophe or protecting civilians, and instead represents a political discussion disconnected from the reality faced by ordinary Sudanese — one that does not lead to a humanitarian truce.
The movement said entering a political process without a binding commitment from the two warring parties to its outcomes will not produce any tangible change in the lives of citizens. It added that the current track is weaker than the “Peace Rotana” process — a dialogue held at the Khartoum Rotana Hotel before the war — which civilian democratic forces had rejected at the time despite the participation of both belligerents.
The movement criticised the preparatory committee document for failing to include explicit language barring the dissolved National Congress Party and its affiliated fronts from participation, saying this “raises doubts about the final objectives of the political process and could reward the parties that ignited the war.”
It warned that the way in which the process has begun in Addis Ababa risks flooding it with fragile parties and initiatives without addressing the root causes of the Sudanese crisis or restoring the goals of the revolution.
Earlier on Friday, Democratic Bloc assistant chairman Mubarak Ardol said that the parties to the preparatory committee document had agreed in practice to reject the participation of the RSF-affiliated Tasis alliance and the NCP, but without enshrining this exclusion in the text of the document. The document was signed by the Sumoud Alliance, the Democratic Bloc, the Popular Congress Party, the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, and the National Umma Party.
The preparatory committee document stated that the political process sought by the signatory forces aims to lead Sudan toward a new path achieving sustainable solutions, establishing justice, democracy, development, and human dignity, and making the current war the country’s last through an integrated approach that places the humanitarian catastrophe, the expansion of civic space, and climate-preparation measures at its core.