Sudan ready to give guarantees for rebels to participate in constitutional conference
November 12, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – President Omer al-Bashir pledged to give the leaders of the armed groups the necessary guarantees for their safety if they participate in the Constitutional Conference which will be held in Khartoum
Presidential Assistant Faisal Hassan Ibrahim announced the presidential pledge in a meeting public with the South Kordofan people in the capital Khartoum on Monday.
“President Omer al-Bashir has agreed to guarantee to ensure the safety of the armed groups to enable them to participate in the drafting of a permanent constitution even if they do not sign a peace agreement,” said Ibrahim.
He added that peace remains the first option for his government, and praised the recent initiative of President Salva Kiir to facilitate the peace process.
The measure would come in the framework of a peace process brokered by the African Union to reach a negotiated settlement for the armed conflict the Two Areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
According to a roadmap, agreed in 2016, there would be national dialogue process to discuss national issues following the signing of peace agreements for the issues of the Two Areas and Darfur. However, Khartoum now proposes to replace the agreed dialogue process with the “Constitutional Dialogue” because the National Dialogue Conference was already held in October 2016.
The presidential assistant appealed to the SPLM-N to abandon violence and to espouse peaceful political action and to participate in the 2020 elections.
He also stressed that achieving peace remains the government’s first choice pointing out it will continue to seek it anywhere.
Ibrahim spoke about his recent meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa with the leader of the SPLM-N faction led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu to discuss the resumption of the peace process for the Two Areas.
He called on al-Hilu to “give up procrastination” and to reach a humanitarian deal with the government enabling the United Nations to have access to civilians in the rebel-held areas and to provide them with the needed assistance.
The SPLM-N al-Hilu at the end of the informal consultations meeting in South African said they proposed to discuss the political agenda first and to delay the humanitarian access and the security arrangement.
Sudan says committed to the previous agenda of the talks with the unified SPLM-N which provides to negotiate a cessation of hostilities agreement followed by a humanitarian deal and other trust-building measures to create a conducive environment for the political talks.
(ST)