FFC leader criticizes AU plans to include former regime in intra Sudanese dialogue
August 1, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – Yasir Arman, a prominent leader of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), criticized arrangements by the African Union to hold an expanded political dialogue in Sudan that includes figures of the banned National Congress Party (NCP) of the former regime.
The planned meeting comes within the efforts of the regional body and international community to end the ongoing political crisis and bloody fighting taking place between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for about 4 months.
According to Arman, contacts are underway between Sudanese stakeholders, IGAD, and the African Union to hold a dialogue at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa on August 25, 2023.
In a paper extended to Sudan Tribune, he underscored that there are no sufficient preparations to ensure the participation of the forces of the December Revolution. Also, he disclosed that the regional body intends to involve NCP leading members and other affiliated forces hostile to the democratic transition.
Such a move “will reward the NCP, the Islamists, and their allies” for igniting the war in Sudan. Also, he added that their participation intervenes while they are rejecting any cooperation with efforts led by the IGAD and the African Union to settle the Sudanese crisis.
“Their involvement in the dialogue would not lead to stability in Sudan or the region and it would be a victory for those who staged the war,” he further stressed.
On May 31, during the third meeting of the Expanded Mechanism for the Resolution of the Conflict in Sudan in Addis Ababa, the African Union Commission unveiled a comprehensive roadmap for an inclusive political process to resolve the conflict in Sudan.
Following the meeting, Mohamed Hassan Ould Labatt, who chaired the meeting, stressed that an inclusive political process should encompass constitutional arrangements for the transitional period, the formation of a civilian government, and programs to address the civilian population’s needs in terms of food and security.
Before the war and after the coup d’état of October 2021, Ould Labatt was in Sudan as AU special envoy. He called for an inclusive dialogue, including the Sudanese Islamists of the former regime. But, the FFC rejected his call and foiled his attempts to involve them.
In his article, Arman referred to this tentative, saying this plan would “only repeat the failed meeting convened at the Salam Rotana Hotel in Khartoum (in June 2022) that the forces of change boycotted.”
The FFC forces say that the purpose of the transitional period is to lay out the pillars of a democratic regime. So, involving the anti-democratic forces would fail the process.
Arman said that two former foreign ministers of the ousted regime, Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed and Ibrahim Ghandour, are working to establish contacts regionally and internationally to secure a seat for the former regime in this dialogue despite national, regional, and international resolutions against them.
He pointed out that they are not against the Islamists “per se”, pointing to the participation of the Islamist Popular Congress Party in the Political Framework Agreement because they condemned the October 25 coup d’état and declared their support for the democratic transition.
“The IGAD and African Union initiative needs to distinguish between the civilians who are for freedom, peace, justice, stability, and change and those who are adamantly working to prolong the war and destabilize Sudan and the region,” he stressed.
In a related development, U.S. Ambassador to Sudan John Godfrey held a meeting with representatives from Sudanese civil society, political coalitions, and parties currently in Cairo on Sunday.
In a tweet posted on Monday, Godfrey said he discussed with the civilian forces “their efforts to form a broadly representative, inclusive, and robust civilian coalition focused on restoring Sudan’s democratic transition in connection with an end to the fighting.”
(ST)