Sudan parliament accepts resignation of ruling party’s members

Sudan parliament accepts resignation of ruling party’s members
BBC Monitoring Service – United Kingdom
Published: Jun 20, 2007

Text of report in English by Sudanese news agency Suna website

The [ruling] National Congress [NC] has ended the controversy over the joining of the Eastern Front members to the parliament by the resignation of eight of its deputies from the National Assembly [NA], in favour of the new parliamentarians from the front.

During its session on Tuesday [19 June], chaired by its speaker Ahmad Ibrahim al-Tahir, the National Assembly accepted the resignations to pave the way for the new members from the Eastern Front in accordance with the Eastern Peace Agreement.

The resigned NC deputies include Dr Majdhub al-Khalifah, Dr Awad Ahmad al-Jaz, Abd-al- Basit Sabdarat, Samia Ahmad Muhammad, Muhammad Yusuf Abdallah, Umar Sulayman Adam, Sa’ud Ma’mun al-Barayr and Badawi al- Khayr Idris.

The Speaker of the National Assembly said that the parliament would address the Presidency of the Republic on the announcement of the vacancy of the seats due to the resignations, in order to issue a decree for the appointment of the new members from eastern Sudan.

He added that the assembly had requested from the political forces that form parliament, to voluntary give up seats for members of the Eastern Front, but they did not do so.

The NC members who spoke on behalf of the eight resigned members affirmed that peace is a strategic goal and the aim of the National Congress’s concession of its seats for their brothers from eastern Sudan is for the implementation of the peace process.