Armed groups have to recognize that Sudanese revolution was achieved peacefully: al-Mahdi
September 21, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Sadiq al-Mahdi National Uma Party (NUP) leader said the armed groups have to admit that the revolution was peacefully achieved by the Sudanese people and to deal with this fact accordingly.
On Wednesday 18 September al-Mahdi called to avoid “foreign incubators” and to hold a peace conference inside the country including the political forces stressing that the issue is a national concern.
He also pointed to the “current phase requires a review of positions, including Sudan Call structure and our alliances with the other national forces”.
“My decision (to resign) was in line with the need for political changes in the structures of political forces that have to move from reform to revision,” said Sadiq al-Mahadi in statements to the London based Alarab daily newspaper from Cairo.
The “revisions must reach the armed movements that have to realize that the revolution has been made by the soft (political) forces, despite their contribution to the depletion of the former regime,” he further stressed.
The leaders of the armed groups have arrogated to themselves the main role in the collapse of al-Bashir’s regime and slammed the rejection of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) to give them some seats in the Sovereign Council and the transitional cabinet.
Al-Mahdi further said the rebels’ recognition that the revolution is made by the Sudanese street paves the way for their “political participation through a project to engage in the political process without requiring the continuation of any armed form”.
The Sudan Call was formed in December 2014, with the idea to engage in a comprehensive peace process including the political opposition groups brokered by the African Union with the former government of al-Bashir.
The alliance was set up based on an agreement signed on 4 September 2014 between the Africa, Union mediation team with the national dialogue committee and the Paris Declaration forces including the NUP.
Earlier in September 2019, the Umma party organized a workshop in Cairo on the peace issues in Sudan, addressed by Saddiq al-Mahdi.
The workshop recommended developing a national vision for a comprehensive peace that reflects the diversity and fuses ethnic, racial, cultural and political ties, according to a statement released at the end of the workshop.
The NUP, which sees Darfur as its main political constituency as a significant part of its supporters and sympathizers are from western Sudan, refuse to see the armed groups monopolizing the peace process.
The Sudan Call groups are expected to meet in Cairo as the armed groups under the Sudanese Revolutionary Front launched on Sunday 21 September a three-day meeting in Cairo to discuss the formation of its negotiating team and the umbrella’s relation with the FFC components.
(ST)