FFC decide to boycott intra-Sudanese dialogue meeting
June 5, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – The Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) decided to not take part in an inclusive meeting organized by the trilateral mechanism this week to express their refusal to the involvement of political groups supporting the military component.
In a meeting held on Sunday, the FFC Central Council approved its vision for the political process to end the coup regime and establish a new civil democratic path.
After the meeting, a senior FFC official disclosed to the Sudan Tribune that the Trilateral Mechanism facilitating the political dialogue has called for a meeting on ways to end the political crisis at Rotana Hotel in Khartoum on Wednesday, June 8.
“The invitation for the meeting has been also extended to the military component and other forces that were allied to the former regime and now supporting the coup leaders”
“Therefore, the Forces for Freedom and Change unanimously decided not to participate in this meeting, because the parties to the crisis are the supporters and opponents of the coup and no one else,” he stressed.
The FFC’s position paper endorsed on Sunday provides that the parties to the current crisis are the forces supporting the coup – referring to the military and their allied armed groups – and the anti-coup forces: the FFC, the Resistance Committees and the armed groups opposed to the coup including the non-signatories, in addition to the forces that signed the Declaration of Freedom and Change and left the coalition latter.
The participation of the formerly ruling coalition is crucial for a successful restoration of the democratic transition and the end of the political crisis. The political crisis sparked between them and the military component before the coup d’etat over the transfer of the chairmanship of the Sovereign Council to civilians as agreed in 2019, and the FFC’s request to implement the security reforms.
This boycott constitutes the first obstacle facing Molly Phee U.S. Assistant Foreign Minister for African Affairs who arrived in Khartoum on Sunday to ensure the participation of all parties of the constitutional declaration in the political process.
The FFC stressed the need to create a suitable atmosphere for the political process by releasing political detainees, ending violence against demonstrators, and lifting the state of emergency.
The security forces continue to use excessive violence against the protesters and arbitrary arrest the Resistance Committees’ activists.
In an interview with Al-Hadath TV on May 13, the African Union Envoy Mohamed el-Hacen Ould Lebatt insisted on the need to include all the Sudanese without excluding anyone.
Ould Lebatt who brokered the political agreement between the military council and the FFC in August 2019, said the situation has changed now in the country and revealed that he had already proposed to associate some non-signatories of the FFC charter but his request had been rejected at the time.
FFC leading member Wagdi Salih, for his part, said in a separate statement that the facilitators have no power to determine who is eligible to participate in the process.
(ST)