Sudanese opposition groups call for cohesion in talks with military council
May 5, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese Professional Association (SPA) Sunday criticized some political forces of the freedom and change coalition for continuing to issue independent statements for the sake of “hastily partisan interests”.
For its part, the Sudan Call alliance pointed out to the need to establish a leadership council to put an end the conflicting statements of the opposition forces and to coordinate positions in the negotiations with the transitional council.
The two statements come after a statement by the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) denouncing a proposal made by a Sudanese good offices committee saying it opens door to the counter-revolution in an attempt to legitimize the authority of the military council to preserves its interests.
The proposal provides to form a joint Sovereignty Council of seven civilians and three militaries, headed by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, alongside a National Security and Defence Council of 7 soldiers and 3 civilians.
The SPA in their statement said that the Declaration of Freedom and Change was aimed at creating a unified resistance bloc, but continued disagreements between continued between some groups and did not comply with the agreement of collective decisions and unified media and kept issuing separate statements “in search of the hasty partisan interests”.
“This matter has constantly created a stir among the masses which are already frustrated by the way and methods of political action in the country”.
The SPA which coordinates the protest movement that toppled down the regime of former President Omer al-Bashir recalled its firm opposition to the presence of the military in the presidency council.
“We will accept only one transitional civil council with a limited representation of the military so that the tasks of the military are confined to security and defence,” said the statement.
Omer al-Digair, the leader of the Sudanese Congress Party told Sudan Tribune that the proposal of the mediation committee is agreed in principle but it remains under discussion to reach a unified position.
For his part, Sudan Call Secretary-General Minni Minnawi released a statement recalling the demand made by his organisation to form a structure to facilitate the decision-making process and, manage the communication with the media, to achieve consensus on issues related to the transfer of power and draw the features of the next phase.
“The confusion of the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change has resulted from the neglect of the formation of a leadership structure”
“What we are witnessing in the rush to negotiate with the military junta, confusion and the contradictory discourse in the name of the forces of freedom and change (…) are all symptoms of the disease of withholding information and lack of organizational structure”.
Accordingly, he urged the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change to rectify these shortcomings and to address the issue of organisational structures to achieve the aspiration of the Sudanese people.
(ST)