NCP not to invite two opposition parties to its general-congress

November 22, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has said that two opposition parties will not be invited to attend its general congress, citing their declared pursuit to topple the government.

Nafe Ali Nafe, the NCP’s vice-chairman and presidential assistant, said in a press conference in Khartoum on Tuesday that neither the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) nor the Popular Congress Party (PCP) of the Islamist leader Hassan Al-Turabi would be invited to attend the NCP’s general congress.

The reason for this, Nafe said, is that both parties have committed themselves to overthrowing. “Even if they received formal invitations, they should mark my words and don’t turn up,” he said.

The SCP and PCP have both refused to engage in dialogue and vowed to pursue regime-changing agendas.

On the other hand, the NCP also appeared uninterested in approaching them, opting for power-sharing dialogue with the National Umma Party (NUP) led by Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani.

In the same context, Nafe reiterated claims that his party had received a confirmation from the DUP that it will participate in the new government the NCP intends to form.

However, Nafe warned that his party would not wait any longer. Asked about the number of portfolios his party will retain in the new government, Nafe said that depends on the level of representation of other political forces.

The NCP has kept the announcement of the new government on hold for more than four months in the hope that it will succeed in persuading the NUP and the DUP to participate.

While the NUP declared it will not participate, the DUP left the door open amid speculations that the party will eventually join the government.

In the same press conference, Nafe said that his party’s general congress comes at a time of great changes in the domestic as well as the regional arenas, citing as examples the secession of South Sudan and the revolutions in the Arab world.

He further said that the general congress would be devoted to discussing the performance of the executive authority as well as the economic crisis, focusing on the increases in the exchange rate of foreign currency against the local currency.

The NCP figure also poured scorn on the rebel groups which he said were seeking to “create a new south” in Sudan, in reference to the alliance of Darfur rebel groups and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N).

Nafe termed the new alliance as the “Juba alliance,” in an apparent dig at the government of South Sudan which his party accuses of supporting the rebels.

(ST)