KHARTOUM, Mar 14, 2005 (Sudan Tribune) — Meanwhile, the drafting committee of the new transitional constitution, in which both the government and the SPLM are represented, has completed the translation of the English copy of the agreed draft constitution into Arabic which will be, according to the committee, presented to pan-Sudanese committee next week.

SPLM’s member of the committee, Luka Biond Deng, to al-Ray al-Amm daily newsapaper yesterday that the eight-member committee - four from each side - would be presenting the final draft in both "English and Arabic" to the Pan-Sudanese Constitution Committee, PSCC, which "includes 60 members" on the condition that the English copy would be the point of reference for any constitutional dispute that might arise in future.

He added that the transitional constitution was derived from the current constitution, the Nairobi peace agreement and the SPLM constitution, and that all the political forces would be invited to comment on it six weeks after the PSCC has received it. After that it would be, he added, submitted to both the National Assembly and the SPLM council for ratification before handing it over to the president for his final approval.

Material provided by the BBC Monitoring Service