NUP leader briefs Sudanese ruling party and opposition forces on SRF deal
August 9, 2014 (PARIS) – The leader of Sudan’s National Umma Party (NUP), al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, has briefed other political parties on the agreement he signed with the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) on Friday in the French capital of Paris.
Al-Mahdi told Sudan Tribune on Saturday from his residence in Paris that he intends to reach out to all political forces to explain the accord he signed and will also hold diplomatic contacts with the international community to launch what he called a “strike diplomacy” before returning home.
He disclosed that he phoned the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) political secretary who is responsible for the NUP contacts, Mustafa Osman Ismail, to acquaint him with the NUP-SRF pact.
“If the NCP agrees with this declaration then it is good … otherwise we will head towards a popular uprising,” al-Mahdi said.
Ismail confirmed in a statement his conversation with al-Mahdi saying that the latter summarised the agreement in several points including seeking unity, abandoning violence, betting on political solution and pursuing a national outcome.
He said the NCP would review the agreement and then decide its position.
The opposition figure also spoke with the leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) Hassan al-Turabi and the chairman of the National Consensus Forces (NCF), Farouk Abu Essa, who is currently in London stressing that the Paris Declaration provides an opportunity to find a solution to the country’s problems.
He said he intends to talk to the head of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) chief Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani.
The NUP deputy chairman Mariam al-Mahdi said that al-Mahdi along with SRF chairman Malik Agar and his deputy al-Tom Hajo communicated with the DUP bureau chief in London to convey their desire to speak with al-Mirghani.
The “Paris Declaration”, signed by NUP and SRF leaders, calls for ending war and engaging in a genuine national dialogue aiming at restoring democracy in Sudan.
The Declaration also asserts the readiness of the rebel alliance to implement a renewable cessation of hostilities in order to allow humanitarian access to the needy in the war zones and to engage in the preparation of a constitutional dialogue.
It further says that they agreed to boycott any general elections unless they are held under a transitional and inclusive government that stops war and allows public freedoms.
The Sudanese government and opposition parties participating in the dialogue process should meet Saturday as they failed to reach an agreement over the transitional government and the postponement of the 2015 election.
The NUP, which suspended its participation in the process, calls for reviewing the dialogue’s mechanism and to include rebels, stressing that democratic transition requires inclusion of the armed groups.
(ST)