Sudan ruling party says no hope to see SLM-N or SLM-AW joining peace
January 17, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – leading member of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), Nafei Ali Nafei, Tuesday has ruled out the signing of a peace agreement with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SLPM-N) and the Sudan Liberation Movement – Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW).
”The SPLM-N and SLM-AW may only join peace in order to raise another problem in the future and delay its implementation. The SPLM-N and SLM-AW are not genuinely keen to achieve peace. There is no hope in them,” said the former presidential aide.
Nafei signed the first framework agreement with the SPLM-N in June 2011, less than a month after the eruption of the conflict in South Kordofan between the Sudanese army and the SPLM-N, but the hardliners in the ruling party and the army at the time rejected the agreement.
He said that the holdout groups that are willing to join peace have to sign the National Document which includes the outcome of the National Dialogue Conference. He pointed that JEM and SLM-MM are the most probable among the rebel groups to join the peace process because they have similar objectives that do contradict the “national goal” unlike the SPLM-N.
The SPLM-N refuses to dissolve its army during the transitional period and demands regional autonomy for South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
The SLM-AW says before to join the negotiating table, Khartoum has to repair the consequences of the conflict in Darfur. So, it demands to provide security to civilians and disarm the militias, to expel the “new comers”, and to restitute the land to its owners, to pay compensations to the affected people.
Nafie said the government and the “national forces” will resume soon a new round of peace talks with the holdout groups to convince them to join the National Document agreed by the dialogue conference last October.
He expressed hope that they join the peace process, adding that there would be no delay in the implementation timetable of the dialogue recommendations related to the formation of a transitional government and constitutional amendments.
The NCP leading member said that nothing prevents the holdout groups from joining the new government in line with some understandings that can be reached in the upcoming peace talks.
Nafei avoided to speak much about Sadiq al-Mahdi who will return to Sudan on 26 January after more than two years of self-exile in Cairo. The government hopes to convince the leader of the largest opposition party as they kept direct contacts with him despite his alliance with the armed groups since August 2014.
Last August, following the failure of the parties to sign a cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access agreements, the government concluded an internal national dialogue in October, saying it cannot wait indefinitely for the holdout groups.
The Sudan Call groups condemned the move, saying Khartoum violated the Roadmap Agreement and asked the African mediators to convince the government to hold another inclusive dialogue process. But the latter says it had waited since March for them to sign the roadmap and proposes them to join the National Document pointing it includes all what they want to achieve.
The mediators seek to convince Khartoum to accept to open this framework document for more discussions with the holdout groups, but they want first bring the armed groups to sign the humanitarian cessation of hostilities with the government.
Nafei left the national government since December 2014, in order to renew the leadership and give a place for the young generations in the ruling party. However, he remains an influential member in the NCP.
(ST)