Sudan’s ruling party offers no apologies to Umma party, accuses RNM of derailing dialogue

December 23, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Sudan insisted the government would not apologise to the leader of the National Umma Party (NUP) Sadiq al-Mahdi over accusations made against him after he signed the Paris declaration with rebel groups last August.

President Omer Hassan al-Bashir launched a national dialogue initiative last January and urged political opposition and rebel groups to join but his call faced major setbacks after the NUP withdrew following the one month detention of al-Mahdi in May.

Rebel movements and leftist forces refused to join the dialogue from the very beginning.

The NCP head of the political sector Mustafa Osman Ismail said that he never saw al-Mahdi “at any stage of his political career being so keen on settling scores as he does these days”.

Al-Mahdi signed the Paris Declaration with the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) in August prompting strong criticism from the government.

The deal calls for a comprehensive solution involving all the political forces including rebel groups. It further stresses on the need to create a conducive environment in order to hold a genuine national dialogue.

The Sudanese president said that Israel stands behind the Paris Declaration in an attempt to dislodge the regime by force. He added the deal aims also to appoint al-Mahdi as interim president and to move the Sudanese capital to El-Fasher in the Darfur region.

Bashir went further to say that the rebels chose al-Mahdi because they were seeking for an acceptable “national figure” to chair an interim government.

Ismail called on al-Mahdi to return to Sudan saying that this is the logical thing to do in order to participate in the dialogue from inside the country and not from foreign capitals where he signed agreements with rebels.

“Al-Mahdi knows these agreements will not make any difference,” he said.

The NCP official stressed that the government will not apologise to the NUP.

“What should we apologise for? The government said certain things and if it is revealed to be incorrect then we will not hesitate to apologise … but so far we do not have anything that makes us retreat or apologise,” he said.

Three weeks ago the NUP was among a number of Sudanese political and armed opposition forces and civil society organisations that signed the “Sudan Call” accord in Addis Ababa that appeals for ending the war, dismantlement of the one-party state, achievement of a comprehensive peace and democratic transition in the country.

The agreement infuriated Bashir who accused the signatories of being mercenaries and agents of foreign powers, warning them against returning to the country.

In a related issue, Ismail also accused the Reform Now Movement (RNM) of trying to derail the national dialogue within the dialogue mechanism.

He said the RNM has made several attempts to quit the 7+7 mechanism but because no other parties joined it hesitated.

Ismail also warned against any move to destabilise the April elections through violence saying that security forces will quell by force.

(ST)