Sudanese opposition parties hold talks in Uganda

KAMPALA, Feb 15, 2005 (IRIN) — Sudanese opposition parties, under their
umbrella organisation, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on Monday
began a five-day meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to discuss
political developments after the recent peace accord signed by Khartoum
and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

Sudanese from the north and the south celebrate peace deal (AP).

“Top executive members of the NDA are discussing how they can prepare
their parties for participation in the political arrangement in Sudan
after the signing of the peace agreement … and how to prepare the people
for democracy,” Mutaz el Fahal, an executive member of NDA, told IRIN.

He said 30 top NDA officials were attending the conference which started
on Monday. It is funded by the US-based International Republican
Institute, and aimed at strengthening and developing the opposition
parties.

“They are being trained about organisational skills, about democracy and
about party development and strengthening,” Mark Schlachter, spokesman for
the US embassy in Uganda, told IRIN.

Members of the NDA include the Democratic Unionist Party, the Sudanese
Communist party, Darfur’s Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, and the SPLM/A,
Sudan’s largest rebel force.

Noting that his embassy had neither been informed of nor invited to the
meeting, Sirajuddin Hamid Yousuf, Sudan’s Ambassador to Uganda,
nevertheless commended its organisers.

“We welcome these type of arrangements because they will create a vibrant
political society in Sudan after the peace accord,” he said.

A preliminary peace agreement signed on 16 January in Cairo, Egypt,
determined that the ruling National Congress Party would have a 52 percent
stake in the government, while the SPLM/A would have 28 percent. Southern
Sudanese who were not SPLM/A supporters would get six percent, the NDA
would have a 14 percent share and also participate in the country’s
constitutional review.

The Cairo agreement was expected to consolidate the comprehensive peace
accord signed between the government and the SPLM/A on 9 January. It
supports the southern peace agreement, backs the drafting of a new
constitution and calls for the formation of a neutral, professional army.

The NDA was established in 1989 following a coup in which Sudanese
president Omar el-Bashir overthrew Sudan’s last democratically elected
prime minister, Sadiq el-Mahdi. It was seen as a rival to the Al-Umma
party of Sadek al-Mahdi – Sudan’s legal opposition – and the outlawed
Popular Congress of jailed Islamist Hassan al-Turabi.

During the past 16 years, armed NDA members fought alongside the SPLM/A in
the southern civil war, which left 2 million people dead, and launched
sabotage attacks and other low-level violence in Sudan’s north and east in
opposition to el-Bashir’s regime.