Sudan’s ruling party reiterates commitment to national dialogue
May 8, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said that it will participate in the pre-dialogue meeting under the auspices of the African Union mediation provided that the invitation is extended to the national dialogue committee known as 7+7.
Khartoum at the time said the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) mediation team did not coordinate with the government on who would participate in the meeting.
It further said that it would be held at the wrong time given the elections which took place in April.
Consequently, AUHIP announced that it has indefinitely suspended the pre-dialogue preparatory meeting after the government and its affiliated political parties refused to attend.
Instead, the head of the AUHIP, Thabo Mbeki held discussions with the delegates of Sudan Call forces who arrived in Addis Ababa including National Umma Party (NUP) chief al-Sadiq al-Mahdi and chairman of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) Malik Agar.
The chairman of the NCP political sector and its representative in the 7+7 committee, Mustafa Osman Ismail, stressed his party’s commitment to the dialogue as the only means for resolving national problems.
He added in press statements on Friday that the dialogue process was initiated by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir in January 2014.
“We said on many occasions before and after elections that we would not abandon the national dialogue. We remain committed to implement the outcome of the dialogue particularly as the dialogue’s roadmap had approved formation of a special committee to carry out the outcome of the dialogue”, he added.
Ismail mentioned the need to clearly differentiate between the defensive military operations carried out by the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) within the framework of their national and constitutional duties and the national dialogue.
“We would definitely defeat those who bear arms and cross the borders to terrify the peaceful citizens”, Ismail said
“Repulsing the aggression does not mean abandoning dialogue. We continue to extend the invitation to all opponents to lay down arms and come to the negotiating table despite of all [crimes] perpetrated by the aggressors”, he added.
Earlier this month, the Sudanese government said its forces routed the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) fighters who carried out a major offensive on South Darfur state for the first time since several years.
JEM issued a rare statement acknowledging its defeat.
The NCP official stressed that his party will not participate in the preparatory meeting unless the invitation is extended to the 7+7 committee, revealing the latter’s meeting on Saturday is confined only to activating the work which have stopped during the elections.
He told Ashorooq TV that the meeting aims to develop a program and a plan to contact the various concerned bodies to ensure the success of the national dialogue after Bashir takes oath.
Ismail also underscored the NCP and 7+7 committee commitment to the roadmap besides the sub-committees which were approved earlier, defending his party’s decision to boycott the pre-dialogue meeting in Addis Ababa.
“The invitation should have been extended to the 7+7 committee not the NCP”, he said
He emphasized that they would continue to reject the invitation if it was extended to the NCP alone, saying their participation is contingent upon addressing the invitation to the 7+7 committee and knowing beforehand who will take part in the meeting.
“If these requirements were met, the 7+7 committee would participate in the preparatory meeting”, he said
Initially the 7+7 was comprised of the NCP and allied political forces including the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), former Darfur rebels from one side and the opposition NUP, Popular Congress Party (PCP) Reform Now Movement (RNM) and Just Peace Forum (JPF).
However, three opposition forces – NUP, RNM and JPF – suspended their participation in the national dialogue mechanism to protest the refusal of the ruling party to implement a number of measures related to the creation of a conducive environment for the process.
(ST)