Sudan says new rebel group agrees to join national dialogue

July 16, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – A member of the 7+7 national dialogue mechanism disclosed that one of the armed rebel movements has agreed to engage in the dialogue process that is set to re-start after the Eid al-Fitr religious holiday.

The Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir launched the national dialogue initiative a year and a half ago in which he urged opposition parties and rebels alike to join the dialogue table to discuss all the pressing issues.

But the initiative faced serious setbacks in wake of the government’s refusal to create suitable atmosphere in the country leading several major participants to pull out.

The National Parties Council held talks with the holdout forces seeking to bring them to the dialogue table.

Its Secretary General Abboud Jabir, who is also a member of the 7+7 mechanism, said he received the approval of an unnamed rebel group to join the dialogue, and pointed out that they formed six committees to contact non-participants.

Jabir also noted that 23 armed movements that signed peace deals with the government are members of the council.

The chairman of the Just Peace Forum (JPF) al-Tayeb Mustafa who heads the dialogue committee tasked with contacting political parties refusing to join the dialogue met on Wednesday with presidential assistant Mahmoud to discuss with him the return of the opposition National Umma Party’s (NUP) leader, al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, from his voluntary exile.

The NUP, which was part of the internal process, withdrew from the process in protest of al-Mahdi’s arrest last year.

(ST)