Sudanese government ready to kick off dialogue next month: official

September 25, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has announced completion of all arrangements to convene the national dialogue conference on October 10th.

The launch of the political conference on peace and constitutional reforms intervenes despite the refusal of political and rebel groups to join it before to implement confidence building measures provided in an African Union roadmap to facilitate the process.

In statements press issued on Friday, the deputy chairman for party affairs and presidential assistant Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid hoped the current year would witness the start of a successful dialogue leading to security, stability and development in the country.

Hamid pointed to the recent presidential decrees to pardon rebel leaders taking part in the national dialogue conference and to declare a two-month ceasefire in the battlefronts, saying “those decrees would enhance efforts to create a conducive climate to ensure the success of the comprehensive national dialogue”.

“Arms didn’t solve any problem in the world and therefore we must start dialogue to stop the fighting and the bloodshed in the country” he added.

Hamid expected that some armed groups join the process saying they received indications that some rebel groups have welcomed the presidential decrees.

“Unofficial reports indicate that all wise people have welcomed the call of the president of the republic for dialogue,” he added.

This month the rebel groups issued a statement expressing willingness to sign a six-month cessation of hostilities if the government accepts to participate in a pre-dialogue meeting to be organized by the African Union.

Regarding the return of the leader of the NUP, al-Sadiq al-Mahdi to the country, Hamid said the latter has received messages from the government that he is welcome to return home for the sake of achieving peace and accord.

He expect him to return to the country to join the peace process in order to end the suffering of the Sudanese people.

But al-Mahdi in statements he made on Wednesday reiterate his refusal to join the current process and renewed calls for an inclusive process gathering all the political forces and armed groups after the creation of a suitable atmosphere in the country.

The NUP leader left the country in August 2014 after a month in jail over remarks he made against the government militia known as the Rapid Support Force (RSF).

Since then he has remained abroad based in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. The Sudanese president vowed to arrest him after the signing of Paris Declaration with the Sudanese rebel groups in Paris on 8 August 2014.

(ST)