Opposition FFC, Darfur groups participate in Sudan dialogue conference

October 8, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The opposition Future Forces for Change (FFC) and two rebel groups from Darfur region Saturday said they will participate in the dialogue conference next Monday.

The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the allied forces participating in the conference endorsed the recommendations of the different panels as they prepare to hold a meeting in Khartoum by attended by several regional leaders.

The meeting will take place without the holdout armed and political groups that were initially meant by the process in order to end the armed conflict in the Two Areas and Darfur.

However, the CCF led by Ghazi Salah al-Din Attabani agreed on Saturday to “participate in the dialogue mechanisms established in accordance with the Roadmap Document of 2014.

The agreement which was signed by the Presidential Assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid of CCF Deputy Chairman Abdel Gadir Ibrahim Ali, provides they will discuss “joint political initiatives to promote the dialogue, especially those relating to the participation of any other political force”.

The head of the African Union mediation team, Thabo Mbeki sought in the past to encourage the CCF to engage discussions with the dialogue committee in order to include them in a future holistic process.

The Sudan Call also said they would include the CCF in a national process they would hold without the NCP, as they would not attend Monday’s conference.

The government slammed the holdout opposition groups saying they are not serious about peace and dialogue and stressed they would go ahead with the outcome of the conference without waiting the opposition Sudan Call forces.

DARFUR GROUPS

The rebel Sudan Liberation Movement for Justice (SLMJ) led by Taher Hajer and the Sudan Liberation Movement-the Second Revolution (SLM-SR), led by Abul Gasim Imam told Sudan tribune Sunday they will attend the final session of the dialogue conference.

Although SLMJ and SLM-SR are not a signatory of the Doha document for Peace in Darfur, Imam and Hajer attended the opening session of the dialogue conference in October 2015 but he left the country on the plane of the Chadian leader Idriss Deby who convinced him to take part in the event.

Also, delegations from the two movement participated in the deliberations of the dialogue’s six committees.

Hajer told Sudan Tribune on Saturday that they accepted the invitation to attend the National Dialogue General Conference in completion of their previous participation and to confirm SLMJ seriousness to achieve solution for Sudan’s intractable problems.

He added his movement participates in the dialogue despite the fact that it didn’t sign a peace deal with the government, pointing they seek to achieve national objectives to re-establish the Sudanese state on a new basis.

Hajer stressed that national dialogue is not a substitute for negotiation and peaceful solution with regard to the war-affected regions, saying issues pertaining to Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile must be discussed in the negotiations forums.

Imam for his part, also told Sudan Tribune he would travel to Khartoum on Sunday to attend the concluding meeting of the national dialogue; and the signing of a national document that establishes the Sudanese state on new bases”.

Regarding the peace talks they are supposed to hold with the government, he added the conference will be followed by other steps to address the root causes of the crises in the war affected areas under the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur.

“This will take place after the end of the dialogue conference and the completion of consultations between the parties and the Qatari mediation,” he said.

(ST)