Sudan’s dialogue secretariat denies allegations of manipulating conference’s outcome

February 26, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The general secretariat of Sudan’s dialogue conference has dismissed accusations that the recommendations of some dialogue subcommittees have been falsified.

On Wednesday, the New Justice and Equality Movement (NJEM) led by Mansour Arbab Younis accused the secretariat of being biased towards the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and casted doubts on the outcome of the conference.

The movement said that the outcome of the Freedoms and Fundamental Rights Committee has been manipulated.

Also, last week the rapporteur of the Freedoms and Fundamental Rights Committee Amar al-Sajad claimed that the recommendations of his panel have been manipulated to please NCP.

However, the dialogue secretary general Hashim Ali Salim Friday downplayed those allegations, denying that the recommendations of any committee have been falsified.
“Committees discuss and agree on every single recommendation and then it is signed by the head of the committee, rapporteur, head of the drafting committee and the dialogue secretary general,” he said.

Salim pointed that the Freedoms and Fundamental Rights Committees approved 91 recommendations, saying that 11 members filed a legal challenge against those recommendations.

He underscored that 120 members including the committee chairman and rapporteur have approved the recommendations, saying that 8 out of the 11 members who filed the challenge have withdrawn from the committee.

He described the recommendations as a “responsibility and a trust”, saying the general secretariat wouldn’t allow any party to tamper with them until they are being handed over to the dialogue mechanism known as 7+7.

Meanwhile, Salim said the secretariat has received recommendations of four committee including peace and unity, identity, freedom and fundamental rights and the foreign relations, pointing the recommendations of the economic and governance issues committees will be received early next week.

He told reporters that submission of the recommendations of the six committees marks the end of the first phase of the dialogue, saying the secretariat would review the final lists of the participating political parties and armed groups and hand them over to the 7+7 committee which would in turn submit them to the dialogue general assembly for final approval.

The internal dialogue conference was inaugurated in Khartoum on October 10 th, 2015 amid large boycott from the major political and armed opposition.