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July 26, 2020 (JUBA) - Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu, head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) called to transfer the peace file to the cabinet and renewed his rejection of the constitutional conference as a mechanism to adopt the country’s permanent constitution.
The Sovereign Council leads the ongoing peace talks with the armed groups, while the transitional constitution says it is one of the tasks of the government to be accomplished under the "auspices of the Sovereign Council".
Al-Hilu made his call in a speech on the occasion of signing a political agreement between SPLM-N al-Hilu and the Sudanese Professionals Association - New Secretariat in Juba on Sunday.
He condemned the state’s insistence on imposing the Islamic-Arab ideology that pushed South Sudan to secede, as he said.
"We affirm our supportive position to transfer the peace file from the Sovereign Council to the cabinet to fulfil the desire of the Sudanese people and to implement the constitutional document," he said.
"We also renew our total rejection of the Constitutional Conference as a mechanism for elaborating the constitution because it is an elitist mechanism that does not allow the participation of all Sudanese people" he further stressed.
Negotiations between the Sudanese government and the SPLM-N Hilu were halted several months ago after Khartoum’s rejection to include the right to self-determination and the separation between the state and religion in the agenda of peace negotiations.
The government delegation says that the secular state will be decided in a constitutional conference with the participation of all political forces after signing a peace agreement.
Al-Hilo praised legal amendments recently made by the transitional government on the apostasy and other matters related to the Islamic legislation but stressed that it does not address the issue of Islamic law as a source of legislation.
Instead, he called to repeal all laws derived from Islam and the implementation of the penal code of 1974 until the adoption of new laws.
However, al-Hilu reaffirmed his commitment to the negotiations as a strategic choice to solve the root causes of the Sudanese problem and to achieve the highest goals of the revolution: a just peace.
He further reiterated his rejection of negotiations based on the quota approach because such a process leads to "fragmentation of solutions".
(ST)
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