Sudan’s opposition alliance divided over position towards “Sudan Call” decisions
December 4, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sharp differences have emerged within the Sudan’s opposition alliance National Consensus Forces (NCF) over the stance towards the outcome of the “Sudan Call” forces meeting in Paris last month.
A well-place source told Sudan Tribune that the chairman of the NCF Farouk Abu Essa didn’t attend the meeting of the alliance leaders on Wednesday despite his presence in the country, noting he authorized the secretary general of the Nasserite Democratic Party Sati al-Hag to inform the meeting of his resignation.
He pointed that the meeting didn’t consider the resignation because discussions of the report on the recent meeting of the “Sudan Call” in Paris took most of the meeting’s time.
The same source also added that two conflicting statements were issued following the meeting, saying the statement that has been later described by the NCF spokesperson Abu Bakr Youssef as “fake” was the one that reflected the true content and decisions of the meeting of the alliance factional leaders.
He added that the meeting formed a committee including the secretary general of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) Mohamed Mukhtar al-Khatib, the secretary general of the Ba’ath Socialist Party (BSP) al-Tigani Mustafa ,Jamal Idris from the Nasserite Party and Ahmed Shakir from the New Forces Movement (Hag) besides two members from the NCF secretariat to draft a statement reflecting the content and the decisions of the meeting.
The same source said the leaders of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP), Sudanese Alliance and the Sudanese Ba’ath Party have expressed reservation on the statement but didn’t deny its content.
He pointed that the rapporteur of the NCF information committee Abu Bakr Youssef issued a press release denying the statement without consulting with the NCF general authority or the leaders’ council, saying the official spokesperson of the alliance is Abu Essa not Youssef.
The statement in question has mentioned that the meeting of the alliance leaders decided that some of the stances and visions that has been approved by the “Sudan Call” forces meeting in Paris don’t represent the position of the NCF, stressing the alliance expressed its rejection of a proposal for the vertical restructuring of the “Sudan Call” and preferred the existing coordination among its components.
The statement also rejected the decision of the “Sudan Call” to establish a presidential coordination council and described it as “unacceptable formula”.
The “Sudan Call” meeting in Paris, which was attended by the NCF chairman Abu Essa, decided to form a coordination council including leaders of the various factions to develop the work, documents and structures of the alliance in accordance with the means and mechanisms of the joint action document signed on March 2, 2015.
The alliance statement also pointed that the letter which was sent by the leader of the NUP al-Sadiq al-Mahdi to the chief of the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) Thabo Mbeki on behalf of the “Sudan Call” forces regarding participation in the dialogue preparatory meeting doesn’t reflect the position of the NCF, saying the alliance didn’t authorize al-Mahdi to send the letter.
However, late night on Thursday, the head of the NCF information committee Abu Bakr Youssef issued a press release saying the “alleged statement has falsified the proceedings and distorted the outcome of the meeting of the NCF factional leaders”.
“It is nothing but a fake statement and it only expresses the opinion of those who wrote it not the NCF forces. It [the statement] hasn’t been shown to the concerned parties and it doesn’t reflect the truth about what those parties have agreed on during the meeting”, the press release read.
The press release further said the meeting of the NCF leaders was successful, noting it discussed the outcome of the “Sudan Call” meeting in Paris and underscored the need to develop and activate its work.
The AUHIP decided to hold a mini-pre-dialogue meeting excluding the NCF because the opposition alliance is not a signatory of September agreement with the African mecnaism. It said that the meeting will only includes SRF and the NUP on one hand and the national dialogue committee on the other hand.
(ST)