Sudan’s NCF blasts government and rebel alliance
October 1, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The chairman of the opposition alliance known as the National Consensus Forces (NCF) Farouq Abu-Issa, has lambasted president Omer Hassan al-Bashir accusing him of undermining efforts of the African Union (AU) and troika group comprised of Norway, United Kingdom and the United States to resolve the Sudanese crisis.
Abu-Issa, who spoke at a press conference on Wednesday, also harshly criticised moves by some opposition figures to form a new alliance under the name of the “National Front for Change”, describing it as an attempt to weaken the major opposition alliance, the NCF.
He also accused some members of the rebel alliance of the Sudan Revolutionary Forces (SRF) of standing behind these attempts, describing the step as “unsatisfactory”.
Reliable sources said that twenty political parties expressed intentions to declare a new opposition alliance this week but the move was delayed as a result of media leaks.
According to a report published by al-Tayyar daily newspaper this week, the new alliance is comprised of parties that include Al-Wasat Islamic Party led by Yousif al-Koda and a faction of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by Gala al-Azhari.
However, al-Koda dismissed the report saying his party is a member of the Broad National Front (BNF) led by Ali Mahmoud Hassanein.
Abu-Issa said that several parties whose names appeared on the list of the new alliance reiterated their commitment to the NCF membership. He claimed that unnamed parties paid large sums of money to opposition figures to join the new alliance.
Formed September 2009 by the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), National Umma Party (NUP), Popular Congress Party (PCP), SPLM and other small political parties, the NCF now contains the SCP, the Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP), Haq and some smaller political groups.
While the PCP abandoned the opposition alliance to join the national dialogue process, the NUP distanced itself due to disagreements over how to manage the organisation of the umbrella.
Leftist forces including the head of the NCF were accusing the NUP leader al-Sadiq al-Mahdi of seeking to take the leadership of the alliance.
When the largest opposition party decided to suspend its participation in the NCF, many observers said the move was similar to al-Mahdi’s decision to quit the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 1999.
Abu-Issa expressed displeasure with the Paris Declaration signed between the SRF and the National Umma Party (NUP), saying the former sought to destroy his alliance through establishing a new opposition coalition with rebel groups.
The veteran opposition figure noted that they previously signed a better agreement with the SRF to unify the opposition forces.
He was alluding to a joint statement the NCF and the SRF issued on 8 April on the requirements of peace and democratic reforms in Sudan within the framework of a comprehensive and inclusive process.
On August 8th the SRF and the NUP, signed the Paris Declaration which calls for a comprehensive process including rebel groups to end war and bring democratic transformation in the country.
The opposition alliance saw the deal between the NUP and SRF as an opportunistic move from the former after the rift with the ruling NCP and the imprisonment of Mahdi.
The NCF chairman accused unnamed bodies and circles of sabotaging their meetings with the SRF and seeking to destroy the opposition.
“We know them by their names and we must stop them”, he added.
He further scoffed at opposition forces which agreed to participate in the government-led national dialogue, describing them as “crossed-eyed”.
“Those who failed in the national dialogue must not seek to establish new opposition centers and any party wishing to dismantle the regime should join us”, he stressed.
The veteran opposition figure also unveiled a new list containing names of more than 70 political prisoners, demanding their immediate release.
The NCF chairman pointed to recent violations committed by the government against opposition including prevention of political activities and public seminars besides banning opposition leaders from travelling abroad.
BASHIR’S REMARKS ON NATIONAL DIALOGUE
Abu-Issa described Bashir’s recent speech on national dialogue as “zero”, saying the latter’s assertion that the NUP leader, al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, can only return to the country after he relinquishes the Paris Declaration is unwise.
In a speech at the convention of the NCP in Khartoum state on Saturday, Bashir surprised the public by announcing that al-Mahdi can only come back to Sudan after having renounced the Paris Declaration, emphasizing that this accord makes him complicit in the rebel project to bring down the regime by force.
He clearly underscored that any separate talks with rebels will be based on the 2005 peace agreement (CPA) for the Sudanese People’s liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) and the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) for Darfur rebel groups.
On September 4th, the Paris Declaration group signed an agreement on the national dialogue and constitutional process with the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP). Further, the African mediation called the warring parties in the Two Areas and Darfur to separately negotiate a cessation of hostilities respectively on 12 and 15 October.
Abu-Issa said that al-Mahdi is the latest elected legitimate prime minister before the coup d’état that brought Bashir to power and should not be treated that way, pointing that Bashir has mixed between his capacity as president and as chairman of the NCP in his recent speeches.
The NCF said in a statement read at the press conference that Bashir’s call for dialogue after 9 months from his initial call underscores failure of the national dialogue, adding that his insistence on holding the dialogue inside Sudan indicates that the regime faced international pressures following signing of Addis Ababa agreements on national dialogue and constitutional process.
The statement said that Addis Ababa agreements notes the internationalisation of the dialogue process due to intransigence of the regime and its rejection of all internal solutions.
“The irony is that Bashir calls SRF [Darfur groups] for dialogue within the framework of DDPD while he restricts talks with the SPLM-N to security arrangements”, it added.
ELECTIONS AND TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT
The statement further said that Bashir’s insistence on holding elections on time reveals falsity of the government call for national dialogue, underscoring that the NCF will not participate in any elections conducted under this regime.
In his Saturday’s speech Bashir reiterated his refusal for the postponement of 2015 elections and expressed his readiness to undertake a cabinet reshuffle in a way to represent all the political forces participating in the dialogue process.
The statement further emphasised that free, fair and equitable elections must be held following the end of the transitional period and after completing its technical and legal procedures.
“We will not participate in any elections in which their results are determined beforehand”, it added.
The NCF also announced rejection to joining any broad-based government under the current regime, saying that Bashir’s refusal to establish a transitional government underscores that the regime is not serious about finding a way out of the country’s crisis.
“We call for a national transitional authority within a full transitional status not a national government”, it added .
(ST)