Sudanese Communists resolved to continue dialogue with rebels
February 8, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) says that it is committed to continue dialogue with Sudanese rebel groups and confirmed having received a letter from the political party registrar about its position in a charter, signed last month, looking to topple the regime by military means.
Reacting to the letter of Political Parties Affairs Council (PPAC), SCP spokesperson Youssef Hussein said in a statement on Thursday that dialogue between the political forces is a “legitimate right”.
“We declare that no retreat, no setback, no rebound from the principle of dialogue and negotiation with the [Sudanese] Revolutionary Front and all the opposition forces inside and outside Sudan,” said the statement of the opposition party.
Sudan’s opposition parties are under huge pressure from the ruling National Congress Party and the security services, who have detained six leading signing the New Dawn Charter in Kampala in January with the rebel groups who are fighting against the Sudanese army in Blue Nile, Darfur and South Kordofan.
The director of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) Mohamed Atta Abbas Al-Moula, officially asked the PPAC to ban four political parties including the SCP, saying the Charter they signed with the rebels violates the 2005 Interim Constitution, Criminal Code and Political Parties Act because it calls to topple the regime though civil and military means.
The Communist party spokesperson however pointed out that Sidiq Youssef, a member of the SCP central committee, signed the “draft of Kampala (charter) in his capacity as head of the (opposition) alliance delegation and not as representative of the Communist Party”.
He further underlined that the Party had already criticised the “draft” of New Dawn Charter in many issues and reiterated that peaceful political struggle and the popular uprising are the right way to achieve democratic change in Sudan.
In an interview with Al-Sudani – a daily Arabic language newspaper – last week, SCP Secretary General, Mohamed Mukhtar Al-Khateib said they refuse to hold dialogue with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) on the new constitution because of the lack of freedoms in the country and the continuation of war in different regions.
“You cannot participate in the constitution making process [when] a third of the Sudanese population are in war areas and in displacement camps,” he added.
(ST)