Bashir urges Museveni to convince rebels to join Sudan’s dialogue process

August 10, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s president Omer al-Bashir has called on his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni to convince rebel groups to join an inclusive process his government is planning to hold inside the country to discuss issues of peace and democratic reforms.

Khartoum accuses Kampala of harbouring and supporting rebel groups fighting his government in Darfur region and South Kordofan and Blue Nile states; but the latter denies the accusations.

Foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour on Monday handed over a message to president Museveni briefing him about the ongoing efforts to hold the national dialogue process in Sudan, said Sudanese ambassador to Ugandan Abdel Bagui Kabir .

“The message deals with the invitation of president Bashir to the Sudanese armed groups and the guarantees he announced enabling them to participate in the dialogue inside Sudan,” said Kabir in statements to the official news agency SUNA.

He further said that the letter speaks about “the role that president Museveni can play by exhorting those groups to join (the political process), considering that his country hosts some of the Sudanese movements”.

Sudanese forces participating in the national dialogue on 5 August agreed to launch the process next October. In a meeting chaired by al-Bashir, it was also decided to intensify efforts to involve the holdout armed groups and opposition parties in the process.

The Sudanese foreign minister represented his country in the meeting of the East African regional bloc, Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on South Sudan.

Ambassador Kibir disclosed that Ghandour will visit South Africa and a number of African states to deliver messages from president Bashir on the government’s efforts to end war and hold the national dialogue.

(ST)