Civil society groups call for a conference on Sudan’s crisis
February 5, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — A group of 47 civil society leaders, journalists and human rights activists called for a conference in Khartoum in response to Sudan’s current crises.
The proposed conference, entitled “Seizing the Final Opportunity or Allowing Further Chaos?” will seek to address Sudan’s multi-dimensional political conflict, including the Darfur civil war and democratic transformation of the country as articulated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005, parts of which are not implemented or are extremely delayed.
No date has yet been set for the conference and spokesman Monim Elgak noted that participants need to have “courage” to launch this civil society initiative.
Organizers argued that the announcement of international criminal charges against Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir and “various official reactions to it” have generated confusion and uncertainty about Sudan’s political future, threatening to inflame an already volatile, war-torn nation.
“The conference aims to achieve broad consensus within Sudan on a course of action that will lead Sudan out of its current crisis,” said a press statement. “The conference aims to build trust and foster reconciliation between communities and create a foundation for building a peaceful, free, prosperous and unified Sudan,” it later added.
The initiators of the effort called for participation by the two principal partners of the CPA, the National Congress Party and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, as well as other political forces including the armed Darfur rebels.
With regard to civil society participation, the organizers stated that they intend to select those Sudanese representatives who may attend, evidently to limit the presence of fake leaders and proxies.
Several international blocs would be invited to attend as observers, plus representatives of each of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, academics from different research centers, AU-UN Joint Chief Mediator for Darfur Djibril Bassolé, certain African and Arab countries like Chad and Qatar and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
The conference initiators, who are almost all men, also proposed that “all stakeholders should pay specific attention to the representation of women and to the specific impact of all the issues discussed and change sought on women in different parts of Sudan.”
“In finding the solutions, no one group or vision should dominate,” said the proposal. “The participants will develop a practical programme of action that will include forming a Government of National Federation to handle the current challenges facing the country. This government will be comprised of all major political actors, who may agree on key positions including the President, and will hold free and fair elections to determine the participation of each party in the executive and legislative bodies.”
Signatories to the proposed initiative include civil society activists, Sudanese writers, journalists, editors of newspapers, human rights activists, lawyers, women’s rights defenders, a former Darfur governor, and a student leader.
(ST)