Sudan’s NCP announces failure of dialogue with opposition

January 18, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese ruling National Congress Party (NCP), has acknowledged failure of its dialogue with the National Consensus Forces (NCF) opposition coalition, denying reports about secret meetings with it to form a transitional government.

The London based Al-Hayat daily newspaper reported in its Thursday edition that the NCP is conducting behind the scenes contacts with opposition parties aimed at forming a national unity government before the general elections slated for April 2015.

Since last month’s reshuffle among NCP ministers in the cabinet, different sources spoke about possible reconciliation between the ruling party and the other opposition parties calling for an Islamic state in Sudan like the Popular Congress Party (PCP) of Hassan Al-Turabi or the reformists that split late last year.

The reports which underlined the political void in Khartoum also pointed to another alternative saying Bashir might strike a political deal with the leader of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP), al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi who wants a constitutional roundtable e involving all the political and rebel forces.

The NCP’s political sector member and deputy chairman of the states council, Ismail Al-Hag Musa, said in press statements on Saturday that his party formed committees headed by Sudan’s former vice president Al-Haj Adam Youssef two months ago to communicate with opposition forces.

He pointed that those committees failed to reach a common ground with the opposition, attributing reasons to opposition’s “lack of seriousness” in dialogue.

Musa pointed out that legislative bodies have established committees to make proposals for the new constitution to be presented to other political parties.

However, the spokesperson for the PCP, Kamal Omer Abdel-Salam, denied existence of committees for dialogue with the NCP, stressing that his party is not engaged in bilateral dialogue with the NCP.

Abdel-Salam asserted that his party works within the NCF to overthrow the regime, saying that PCP will not negotiate with the NCP even if the latter formed “500” committees for dialogue.

In the same context, the NCP announced its intention to continue dialogue with all political parties.

The NCP political secretary, Mustafa Osman Ismail, stressed in press statements on Saturday that they are keen to strengthen the national principles and promote peaceful transformation of power through Shura, democracy, and social justice.

“We extend our hands to all political forces for the sake of the country and political stability”, Ismail said.

All the opposition forces want the formation of a transitional government and holding an inclusive conference to discuss a solution for the regional conflicts in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur, and also to agree on a new democratic constitution.

The ruling NCP however repeatedly insists that the opposition forces have to prepare themselves for the general election of 2015 to implement their programme if they win it. For the armed groups, the government said they have to sign peace accords and to participate in the vote.

(ST)