Sudan’s opposition assembly expels three members
January 24, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The assembly of opposition forces taking part in the national dialogue process launched by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir last year has expelled three members.
The secretary general of the alliance for national forces Sati Sorkaiti said in press statements on Saturday that the three figures departed from the consensus of opposition forces in the national dialogue and made “dishonest statements” to the media.
But the PCP official downplayed the significance of the decision saying that his party severed ties with 7+7 opposition parties after they boycotted a meeting last week.
Furthermore, n a statement released on Tuesday, the Reform Now Movement (RNM) of Ghazi Salah Eddin al-Attabani and the Just Peace Forum (JPF) led by al-Tayeb Mustafa announced that they will boycott a meeting between president Bashir and the dialogue committee saying that some parties are invited to participate as opposition representatives while they are not.
They further decided to “suspend participation in the national dialogue until the requirements of a conducive environment (…) are met”.
The two opposition parties identified 12 confidence building measures saying that it was agreed in the roadmap of the national dialogue and endorsed by the regional and international organizations supporting the process.
These measures include the release of political detainees, freedom of expression, freedom of movement and travel, end media restrictions, take the needed measures to allow the return of opponents and rebels into the country, stop war and allow humanitarian access.
The two parties also rejected the “secret and unilateral” constitutional amendments increasing the powers of the Sudanese president, and reiterated their objection to the general elections scheduled for next April.
RNM figure Hassan Osman Rizg said that they will return to the dialogue only if the government implements its obligations under the roadmap and the Addis Ababa accord.
He said that forces that suspended dialogue participation met with African chief mediator Thabo Mbeki and protested to him that Bashir has not honored his pledge to release political detainees.
Mbeki has vowed to arrange a meeting between Bashir and these parties within the next 48 hours.
Rizg added that the insistence of the government to continue dialogue with only parties that are present demonstrates that it is “walking towards its death”.
He accused the government of creating “bogus parties” stressing that Sudanese people are smart and will not be fooled by that.
(ST)