Sudanese parliament to debate on new draft constitution

KHARTOUM, June 25, 2005 (Sudan Tribune) — The Speaker of parliament, Ahmad Ibrahim al-Taher, has announced that parliament will start its deliberations on the interim draft constitution on Monday 27 June, with a speech from the president of the republic followed by an approved copy from the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC).

Ahmad Ibrahim al-Taher.

During the deliberations, Taher said, parliament will be exercising its authority in passing the constitution and recommendations of the national conference on the draft constitution- which set up the NCRC – the 1998 constitution, as well as, all other ratified agreements that would support the parliament in preparing and passing the new constitution.

The Speaker further said , parliament would constitute four committees to head the NCRC and to review the general features of the constitution, before submitting their reports at a general parliamentary session.

He said the parliament will be holding morning and evening sessions that would continue for eight days, during which parliament would endorse the interim constitution and then submit it to the general secretariat in full for further deliberations.

Material provided by the BBC Monitoring Service.