Sudan’s dialogue mustn’t focus on power sharing issues: official

November 13, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The governor of Khartoum state Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein said the dialogue conference mustn’t focus on governance issues and political quotas.

He underscored support for the national dialogue process particularly the societal dialogue, saying the later is more comprehensive and effective than the political dialogue because the majority of the Sudanese people are not affiliated with political parties.

Hussein, who spoke in a talk show aired by the public Radio Omdurman on Friday, pointed to the need for the participation of the entire sectors in the dialogue, saying the ongoing dialogue could attract the majority of the Sudanese people.

He stressed that climate is conducive for the holding the dialogue in Khartoum, demanding that dialogue mustn’t focus on “who should govern Sudan because this is a trivial issue,” adding that “people would eventually come to power through elections”.

Khartoum governor, who is also the chairman of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Khartoum, acknowledged existence of discordant views within the dialogue conference, attributing it to the differences among the various individuals and political groups on the Sudan’s issues.

He demanded that dialogue process must be completed inside Sudan, noting that president Omer al-Bashir gave the necessary guarantees for the participation of the internal and external holdout opposition in the dialogue conference.

The government-led national dialogue conference was inaugurated in Khartoum on October 10th amid large boycott from the major political and armed opposition.

Hussein further pointed to the existence of a strong will to ensure the success of the dialogue, saying the dialogue conference would produce a unified vision and a comprehensive document to resolve Sudan’s issues.

He called upon the holdout opposition to participate in the dialogue, saying dialogue is the only means for achieving peaceful solution and drafting a comprehensive document that could serve as bases for the permanent constitution.

For his part, the deputy chairman of the NCP in Khartoum Mohamed Hatim Suleiman said that dialogue is not meant to “distribute political quotas or to share the power cake”.

It is noteworthy that the NCP rejected a proposal calling to form a transitional government filed by the Popular Congress Party (PCP) led by Hassan al-Turabi to the governance and administration committee of the national dialogue conference.

Suleiman described the talk on the power sharing within the dialogue conference as “jumping over issues”, demanding that the ongoing dialogue achieves consensus on a national document.

The chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Khartoum state Mohamed Youssef al-Digair said that President Bashir adopted the call for dialogue after it was launched by the DUP late leader Zain al-Abdeen al-Hindi.

He called for the need to encourage and support dialogue and take it seriously, pointing they will be responsible for ensuring the success of the dialogue before Allah (God) and history.

The leading figure at the National Umma Party for Reform and Development (NUPRD) Amira Abu Tawila pointed that women play important role in the success of dialogue particularly at the grassroots level.

(ST)