SPLM-N refuses to meet Sudan’s dialogue implementation body

January 30, 2017 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement -North (SPLM-N) Monday announced its rejection to meet with the implementation committee on the national dialogue outcomes, and urged the mediation to meet the opposition before organizing such an encounter.

The announcement comes following unconfirmed reports that the African Union High Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) would convene a meeting between the implementation committee and the opposition alliance of the Sudan Call forces.

The AUHIP head and chief mediator Thabo Mbeki purportedly said the opposition accepted in principle to participate in the discussions over the new constitution, and to participate in the transitional National Consensus Government.

“The SPLM-N would not meet with called the implementation committee of the dialogue outcomes, (…), because we have no relation with that dialogue to work on the implementation of the its outcomes. Further, we stick to the position of the Sudan Call which calls for a preparatory meeting in line with the resolutions 456 and 539 of the African Union Peace Security Council,” said the statement.

The rebel group further said that the mediation has to work on equal footing with the two parties and consult with the opposition in the same way that it consults the government.

“The African mechanism has held consultations with the regime and its president in Khartoum, so they must hold consultations with the other party, the opposition, before entering into any new steps. The mediator must work with the two parties and not with only one party”.

Following the failure of the negotiations on the cessation of hostilities and humanitarian access agreements, the government brushed aside the Roadmap Agreement brokered by the African mediation, saying it would move forwards in the implementation of its own plans and held a dialogue conference without the holdout opposition groups.

After what, the Sudanese government said the opposition groups now can participate in the implementation of the dialogue recommendations dubbed ‘the National Document’.

The statement stressed that before any political process there is a need to implement the confidence building measures particularly the humanitarian cessation of hostilities and the re-establishment of freedoms in Sudan.

“The regime destroyed the road map and destroyed the political process. It bears alone the responsibility for all that. We must rebuild the political process by addressing the humanitarian crisis, stopping the war, and providing freedoms as a condition for any equal political process,” the SPLM-N said.

(ST)