Sudan opposition to hold key meeting as NCP warns of “narrow” political agendas
January 4, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Over 32 north Sudanese opposition parties will hold a crucial one-day meeting on Wednesday to discuss a set of agendas related to the overall political situation in the country as well as the upcoming referendum on south Sudan independence, in an effort to increase pressure on the ruling party to accept demands of reforms.
Meanwhile, the governing National Congress Party (NCP) in north Sudan says it has not been invited to participate, conditioning its recognition of the conference’s outcome on them being free of narrow political agendas.
The SCP’s senior member Sidiq Yusif said on Tuesday that more than 32 political parties would meet in Omdurman to embark on deliberations concerning a host of issues including the referendum, democratic transformation, the economic situation, the peaceful coexistence between north and south Sudan as well as Darfur crisis.
According to Yusif, opposition parties would issue a final communiqué of the meeting’s outcome and later hold a political rally to be addressed by leaders of the main parties.
Political tension in north Sudan has been on the rise as the semi-autonomous region of south Sudan prepares to gain full independence from the north in a vote due on Sunday. The vote was promised under the 2005’s peace deal signed by the NCP and former southern rebels SPLM, ending nearly two decades of north-south civil war.
Opposition parties accuse the NCP of failing to retain unity with the south and maintaining a stranglehold on political activities in the north amid worsening economic conditions and a continuous conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur.
The opposition demands the NCP, which dominates all levers of power in the country, to form a transitional government and enact constitutional reforms, threatening to adopt a regime-change policy if the NCP ignores their demands.
But the NCP has dismissed calls for a transitional government, saying opposition parties are only welcome to join the government as it is, without explaining how much power it is willing to give them.
The London-based Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Tuesday that the opposition parties claimed they were intending to invite the NCP to the meeting but the latter preempted the invitation by declaring its refusal to participate.
But the NCP’s political secretary Ibrahim Gandur claims otherwise.
According to him, the opposition did not invite the NCP despite the party’s “consistent commitment” to open channels of dialogue on all issues.
“The opposition has been planning this meeting for a long time and did not invite us despite its claiming it will not exclude any party,” Gandur was quoted by the pro-government website Sudan Media center on Tuesday.
Gandur said his party would only deal positively with the outcome of the meeting on the condition that they are free from narrow political agendas.
“We can deal with the outcome of the meeting in a fashion that satisfies everyone if we are to make sure that the agendas are free from narrow political and party-centered interests because they do not serve the interests of the wider country in the coming period,” Gandur concluded.
(ST)