Sudan’s NCF did not receive invitation to meet with SRF in Germany: chairman
June 2, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s opposition alliance of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) said it has not received an invitation to attend the Sudanese dialogue forum which was due to be held in Germany on Tuesday.
The meeting was supposed to bring together the NCF and the rebel alliance of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) to develop a common platform on constitutional reforms and the national dialogue process.
The NCF chairman, Farouq Abu Issa, told Sudan Tribune that the meeting which has been decided two months ago will not take place on the specified date due to logistical and financial issues besides difficulties concerning the venue of the forum.
He said the leaders of the rebel alliance cannot come to Sudan to attend the meeting, saying the ongoing conflict in South Sudan has negatively impacted activities of the SRF.
Sudan Tribune notes that the meeting aims to produce a new document through pairing the New Dawn Charter (NDC) which was developed by the SRF and the Democratic Alternative Charter (DAC) which was approved by the NCF last year
Abu Issa pointed out that the meeting was called for by the SRF but the NCF did not receive the invitation until now, saying the latter prefers to discuss Sudan’s issues inside the country in order to arrive at a roadmap to overthrow the regime.
Last Friday, Kamal Omer Abdel Salam, Popular Congress Party (PCP) political secretary told Sudan Tribune that his party is keen to develop relations with all the components of the rebel alliance in order to achieve peaceful settlement and stability in the country.
But he appeared reserved towards any attempt to move the national dialogue outside the country, emphasizing that his party believes in the need to hold it in Sudan.
Abdel Salam added that they are preparing to send a delegation to Germany to explain the position of their party on the national dialogue.
In the same context, the leading figure at the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), Sideeg Youssef, stressed that his party did not receive any invitation to attend the meeting in Germany.
He told Sudan Tribune they expect the time and place of the meeting will be decided jointly between the SRF and the NCF in order to discuss ways for pairing the NDC and DAC.
Youssef also said the Sudanese government had earlier refused to allow the NCF delegates to travel to Geneva to attend a meeting with the SRF to develop a joint roadmap between the two bodies.
Last April, the SRF brushed aside president Omer Hassan al-Bashir’s call for national dialogue, proposing that Khartoum holds direct talks with the rebel groups to discuss a humanitarian cessation of hostilities and to “settle war-related issues and the particularities of the war affected regions”.
After whic, a national constitutional dialogue can be held, including opposition parties.
The opposition parties reacted negatively to this roadmap as some fear to reproduce the Comprehensive Peace Agreement negotiated by the ruling National Congress Party and the then rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in 2005. They demand to be involved in the whole process.
(ST)