Al-Mahdi, al-Digair agree to coordinate actions over Sudan political solution

March 14, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Opposition National Umma Party (NUP) and Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) Monday agreed to coordinate efforts for peace and democratic transition in Sudan.

SCoP leader Omer al-Digair held a meeting with NUP self-exiled leader Sadiq al-Mahdi in Cairo where they discussed political developments in the country, said a joint statement released on Monday.

“The parties agreed to consider (political) developments and to come to up with a unified position,” further said the statement.

The meeting took place on the eve of a consultations meeting the African Union High- Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) will organize in Addis Ababa on 18 March to discuss the needed confidence building measures for the participation of the holdout opposition parties in the National Dialogue Conference.

The meeting will also hold parallel discussions between the government and rebel groups over the resumption of peace talks.

The ”Sudan Call” coalition, which gathers the two parties, the other members of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) and the armed groups, says they will join the dialogue conference after the implementation of confidence building measures included in the AU road map.

They also call for an independent chairmanship of the constitutional conference instead of President Omer al-Bashir.

Al-Digair was elected last January as a SCoP leader replacing Ibrahim al-Sheikh. The Party’s statues provide that the chairman should only be elected for two terms.

(ST)