Mbeki’s summit for Sudan political parties postponed

February 18, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – A conference hosted by an African Union (AU) that would have brought Sudanese political parties together has been postponed, according to a statement by the pan-African body.

The Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) headed by former South African president Thabo Mbeki have said that the Juba alliance comprised of opposition parties made the request for the rescheduling of the meeting which was supposed to start on Thursday with the participation of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) headed by president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

Mbeki’s panel met in Khartoum with Umma party leader Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) Secretary General Mohamed Ibrahim Nugud, Reform and Renewal Party (URRP) leader Mubarak Al-Fadil, Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) Deputy Secretary General Yasir Arman, Sudanese presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail, NCP political officer Ibrahim Ghandour.

“The Panel, which is convening the Summit at the request of the Sudanese Parties, will continue to facilitate joint planning meetings with the Parties in order to ensure a successful Summit….the Panel is convinced that the Summit will contribute positively to promoting the national consensus which will bode well for the democratic transformation of Sudan”

The Umma party leader was quoted by the independent Al-Sudani newspaper as saying that the political forces have agreed on the summit to discuss all political issues of the country.

Al-Mahdi added that it is hoped that a preliminary meeting would be held after which a declaration of principles then an elections pledge of honor to guarantee the fairness of the April polls.

The URRP chief Mubarak Al-Fadil said that the meeting “sends a warning to the NCP to respond to the requirements to get the country out of the crisis and then the whole world will be a witness who rejects the deal”.

The NCP representatives ruled out any talk about postponing the elections partially or fully and expressed the party’s readiness to reach an agreement on a “political document” but did not reveal the nature of its contents.

Mbeki’s AU panel on Darfur (AUPD) was tasked by the AU to create a roadmap that would harmonize peace, justice and accountability. It was established in the wake of the imminent indictment of Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The implementation panel also headed by Mbeki was created “to assist in the implementation of all aspects of the recommendations of the AU Panel on Darfur, and to support the Sudanese parties in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and other related processes”.

The major deliverable of the CPA are the elections in April 2010 and the South Sudan referendum in 2011.

(ST)