Minnawi rejects FFC involvement in Sudan’s peace talks

December 11, 2019 (JUBA) – The Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) announced its rejection of the participation of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) in the Juba process for peace in Sudan.

FFC officials said they would travel to Juba to discuss with the SRF the sticky issues of the appointment of governors and the formation of the transitional legislative assembly pointing that they are pressed by their bases to change the military governors.

For their part, the rebel umbrella says the government should not appoint the 18 civilians governors or form the legislative assembly before the signing of a peace agreement, accusing the FFC of seeking to give these positions to their members and supporters.

In a speech before the opening session of the third round of talks in Juba on 10 December, Minni Minnawi the head of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) said that the RSF is only negotiating with “the transitional authority which has won the consent and unanimity of the Sudanese people after its victorious revolution”.

“We do not see a place in the negotiating table for political forces. They are our brothers and partners in the revolutionary concern. However, our relations were marred by chaos, which we fear will affect the whole negotiation process,” Minnawi said.

He further said that any discussion to amend the relationship between the FFC and the SRF should be held outside the framework of the peace talks.

The relationship between the FFC partners was strained after differences over the formation of the transitional government, as the armed groups demanded to delay the formation of the transitional government until the signing of a peace agreement to take part in the cabinet but their demand was rejected.

The priority is to consolidate the civilian rule said the political forces at the time.

In his speech, Minnawi also criticized the recent appointments in the civil service after the sack of supporters of the former regime who obstructed the action of the newly appointed government.

He further called to set fair national standards to ensure the representation of the different regions.

Several SRF factions of complained that they are not consulted by the FFC political forces inside the country and speak about a new marginalization against the people of the western and southern Sudan.

International diplomats recently encouraged the armed groups to put aside their dispute on the positions and back the transitional government of Abdallah Hamdok as they insisted on the need to achieve a democratic transition in Sudan by the end of the transitional period.

IDPs and refugees representation

Minnawi further slammed calls by government officials to include the IDPs and refugees in the peace process as stakeholders.

“We, in the Darfur track, look forward to the participation of our displaced brothers and refugees in our negotiating delegation. They are from us and we belong to them before being victims of the conflict. They are the owners of the issue and we took up arms for them,” he said.

Therefore, we do not see a justification for (statements) about their position at the negotiating table, (…),” he said before to add that their demands have always been at the forefront of the negotiation agenda since 2003.

The representation of the stakeholders was one of the main issues in the talks for peace in Darfur, taking into account that several ethnic groups do not see themselves represented by the armed groups.

During the Doha peace process, the mediators held different consultations meetings in Doha with stakeholders selected with special focus on the areas and IDPs camps that say they are not represented by the parties to the talks.

(ST)