Sudan’s exiled opposition gathers to discuss entry into politics

ASMARA, Feb 7 (AFP) — An exiled coalition of Sudan’s opposition groups, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on Monday opened a five-day conference here to discuss their possible entry into country’s mainstream politics after it signs a final deal with Khartoum this week.

The conference comes in the wake of a political agreement that was reached between the Khartoum government and NDA in Cairo on January 17, which allowed the opposition umbrella group to be reintegrated into Sudan’s political life.

A final accord between the government and Cairo-based group is to be signed on February 12 in the Egyptian capital.

But Beja Congress (BC), an NDA member that pulled out of the group’s talks government in October, is not satisfied with the Cairo deal that was clinched on January 16 and plans to raise the issue in the Asmara meeting, according a BC official.

The BC argues that the Cairo deal has however been strained by the killing of at least 14 people when Sudan’s government troops broke up a demonstration by supporters of the BC on January 29 in the country’s eastern town of Port Sudan.

In Asmara, NDA chairman Mohammed Osman el-Mirghani denounced the “brutality against civil population” and urged Khartoum “to establish a judicial commission to investigate the incidents.”

The NDA is “looking forward to convene an all-eastern Sudan conference to address the root causes of the crisis and come up with consistent adjustments,” he added.

While adressing the meeting in Eritrea, a tiny Horn of Africa nation blamed by Khartoum for supporting Sudan’s opposition, el-Mirghani took the opportunity to urge both nations “to normalise their bilateral ties for the interest of the Sudanese and Eritreans alike.”