Ghandour blames AUHIP for ignoring Sudan’s position on pre-dialogue meeting

April 10, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese presidential assistant, Ibrahim Ghandour, said the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) disregarded the position of the government and what was agreed on the organisation of the pre-dialogue meeting.

In a press conference unusually held on Friday, Ghandour said his government accepted the German initiative which provides to hold the national dialogue preparatory meeting without preconditions to discuss procedural matters.

He further said they notified the AUHIP delegation which was in Khartoum before issuing the invitation to the pre-dialogue meeting last month that they do not agree with holding the meeting before the elections.

He said they showed the delegation a written statement issued by the SPLM-N secretary-general Yasir Arman saying the Sudan Call forces would not participate in any dialogue after the elections because their first demand is to postpone or to cancel the elections.

“We told them we will not participate in a meeting before the election because this will send a negative message to the Sudanese people. But, we are ready to participate in the preparatory meeting after the elections,” he said.

The presidential aide further blamed the African Union delegation on the large number of participants invited by the mediation for this meeting.

He said they agreed to invite the national dialogue committee known (7+7) because it composed of seven representative of the government parties and seven delegates from the opposition parties .

“They extended an invitation only for us (the National Congress Party) from the government parties and the Popular Congress Party from the opposition parties of the (7+7) committee. On the other hand they invited three parties that suspended their participation in the dialogue and quitted the (7+7), plus 35 invitations extended for the civil society groups and nine invitations for the armed groups,” Ghandour said.

Previously, the Sudanese official said they had objected the participation of the civil society groups in this meeting but accepted that after the German initiative which provided that the Sudan Call forces including civil society organisations will be represented by the rebel umbrella Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) and National Umma Party (NUP).

On the first of April the AUHIP announced the indefinite suspension of the pre-dialogue preparatory meeting and seemed surprised by Khartoum rejection to attend a meeting announced for 30 and 31 March to discuss “procedural and process issues”

Despite initially indicating that they would respond positively to the Panel’s invitation to participate in the Addis Ababa meeting, key representatives of the 7+7 mechanism later cited several impediments to attending the meeting, a statement released by the mediation team said.

DIALOGUE WITH WASHINGTON

The Sudanese presidential assistant disclosed that a new round of talks on bilateral relations will be held after the elections.

“The United States is an important country and we are also an important country in the region, and we look forward to establish normal relations,” he added.

The Sudanese cabinet, in a meeting held on Thursday directed to continue the dialogue with the American administration in order to ease the strained relations.

Last February Ghandour was in Washington where he met with officials at the State Department and an aide of president Barack Obama at the White House.

The upcoming meeting is expected to take place in Khartoum.

(ST)