Sudan’s NUP, SCP agree to coordinate on struggle for freedoms
June 2, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The National Umma Party (NUP) and the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) agreed on Monday to coordinate relentlessly to grab the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the constitution.
NUP’s leading figure Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi told Sudan Tribune that the meeting included the party’s Secretary general Sarah Nugdalla and from the SCP side its spokesperson Yusuf Hussein, Sideeg Yusuf, Ali Fadl and Saleh Mahmoud.
Mariam declined to give any further details about the meeting which was held at the NUP headquarters in Omdurman.
The NUP and SCP were at odds recently over the former’s decision to join the national dialogue process called for by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir earlier this year.
But after the detention of al-Mahdi, the NUP announced that it has suspended its participation in the national dialogue.
The two parties also traded bitter accusations over differences that emerged during meetings of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) of which both are members.
Today they issued a joint appeal for the release of al-Mahdi who was arrested on May 17, days after he was called for questioning by state prosecutors over statements he made accusing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of committing abuses against civilians in Darfur and Kordofan regions.
They said that their bilateral dialogue was characterized by transparency and positivity on the current situation in Sudan, political developments, security threats, deterioration of economic and living conditions and decline in public and private freedoms.
The two parties also criticized the government for its crackdown on the press and arbitrary for politicians and encroachment on religious freedoms.
(ST)