SCoP urges mediation to stick to AUPSC resolutions on Sudan’s dialogue
March 18, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) has urged the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) to abide by the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) resolutions (456) and (539) which call for holding an inclusive and comprehensive national dialogue.
SCoP renewed its common position along with its allies in the “Sudan Call” and the National Consensus Forces (NCF) which state that the comprehensive political solution couldn’t be achieved without meeting several conditions including reaching a total cessation of hostilities in war areas, releasing political detainees and cancelling restrictive laws.
The statement stressed the need that a transitional authority comprised of all political and civil society forces should be established to implement any political agreement among the various parties, pointing that the AUPSC has adopted this position in its resolutions (456) in September 2014 and (539) in August 2015.
The AUHIP has invited the government and the National Umma Party of Sadiq al-Mahdi besides three armed movements: Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM) to take part in a consultative meeting in Addis Ababa on 18 March.
The meeting is supposed to discuss the way forward on the national dialogue and how to stop the armed conflicts in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur.
SCoP further said the government has always sought to manipulate the peace talks and the national dialogue to avoid reaching a genuine solution that could end the war and lead to a genuine democratic transformation.
“The NCP regime continued to take advantage of the seasonal negotiations events for purposes that has nothing to do with the peaceful solution for the issues of the Sudanese people. It used those events only to confuse the Sudanese people and to market itself to the international community and to divide the opposition front”, the statement read.
SCoP renewed its position that there is no partial solution for the Sudanese crises, saying that the sustainable solution must be inclusive of all issues and parties.
The strategic consultative meeting is conceived by the AUHIP to replace a national dialogue preparatory meeting the government had rejected.
The purpose of the pre-dialogue meeting was to gather the armed and political holdout groups and the government to discuss confidence building measures paving the way for their participation in the internal political process.
The pre-dialogue meeting was supposed to intervene after the signing of a cessation of hostilities agreement within the framework of declaration of principles for a peaceful settlement.
(ST)