Sudan Call forces threaten to overthrow the government
October 23, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – The opposition umbrella Sudan Call has threatened to launch a large-scale sit-in campaign to overthrow the regime if the government doesn’t consider the internal dialogue a first step towards a comprehensive process.
The opposition groups boycotted the process because the government didn’t agree on humanitarian truce with the armed groups and due to its refusal to implement a number of confidence building measures.
In a political symposium on Saturday, leaders of the Sudan Call criticised the government-led dialogue and described it as a dialogue between the regime and its allies.
Deputy chairman of the National Umma Party (NUP) Fadl Allah Burma Nasser said the outcome of the internal dialogue must incorporate ten issues in order to gain the support of the holdout opposition.
“ If the regime considered the internal dialogue a final process and relinquished the African peace Roadmap, the political, civil, trade unions and intellectual forces would adopt another peaceful approach to reclaim the rights of the Sudanese people,” he said.
Nasser pointed that the new approach would include the issuance of a document entitled “Pathway to a Just and Comprehensive Peace, Democracy, Development and National Unity” besides launching a large sit-in campaign inside Sudan and abroad on January 1st, 2017.
For his part, the chairman of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) Malik Agar described the national document which was produced by the dialogue a conference as “mendacious”, saying it only expresses views of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and its allies.
He pointed that the regime’s call for dialogue was not genuine, saying it was intended to enable it to cling to power and divide the opposition.
“We are not against a genuine and equal dialogue that is not controlled by anyone and that wouldn’t be held under the auspices of the regime,” he said.
The rebel leader further said the Sudan Call signed the Roadmap because it would lead to a genuine and equal dialogue that begins by stopping the war in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile and allows humanitarian access to the population in the war-affected areas and then holding a preparatory meeting in Addis Ababa.
“However the regime had disavowed the Roadmap after because it was not committed to it in the first place” he said.
Agar added the regime has to choose between accepting the Roadmap and engaging in a true dialogue or face total resistance, saying the national document wouldn’t relieve the regime from fulfilling its obligations.
Last March, Sudanese government signed the Roadmap Agreement for peace and dialogue in Sudan brokered by the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP) alone in Addis Ababa. The Sudan Call endorsed the document last August.
However, the government rejected the organization of an inclusive national dialogue preparatory meeting in Addis Ababa to discuss the confidence building measures, saying a “strategic meeting” with the participation of the main opposition and rebel groups is enough.
Also, talks between the government and armed groups over the cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access failed to strike a deal on these two issues.
Leader of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-MM) Minni Minnawi, for his part described the internal dialogue process as a “play” by the NCP, calling to implement the Sudan Call program to mobilize the streets for the popular uprising.
The Sudan Call, which was established in Addis Ababa on 3 December 2014, include the National Umma Party (NUP), the rebel umbrella of Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) and the Civil Society Initiative (CSI).
The opposition umbrella also includes five internal opposition parties: SCoP, Sudanese Baath Party (SBP), Center Alliance Party (CAP), Sudanese National Party (SNP) and Sudanese National Alliance (SNA).
(ST)