August 17, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — Darfur’s Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM), condemned the verbal attack on a leading member of the opposition Umma National Party (UNP), after the signing of a political agreement with the rebel group earlier this month.

The SLM-MM "condemns in the strongest terms the shameful and despicable position of the National Congress Party (NCP) against the Memorandum of Understanding between the Sudan Liberation Movement and the Umma National Party," said Abdalla Mursal, SLM-MM spokesperson in a statement he sent to Sudan Tribune on Friday.

This memorandum "comes as a necessary step in the right direction," he said.

Mursal went further to say it highlights the need to agree on the national and important constants and to consolidate the relationship between the armed groups and movements for peaceful change in order to bring down the regime and achieve political change in Sudan.

Vice-President Al-Haj Adam Youssef, who is also the head of the NCP political sector, created a rift with the main opposition Uma party when he slammed a deal Mariam Al-Mahdi signed with the rebel group on some issues to be included in Sudan’s constitution like general constitutional principles, particular dispositions for Darfur and other regions affected by war. The understanding also insisted on the particular relationship with South Sudan.

Mursal also said this deal comes in line with the policy of the SLM-MM to coordinate with all political forces, civil society and youth groups and to discuss ways to reach a national political platform for change in Sudan.

The rebel spokesperson pointed out that such contacts and agreements do not affect SLM-MM commitments towards the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF).

"it is a consolidation of the work of the Front and a nucleus of future understandings between the various political forces and the Sudan Revolutionary Front in the way of toppling down the regime and bringing democratic regime" in the country, he said.

The SRF last week distanced itself from the agreement signed by Minnawi’s group and the Umma party, saying they were not involved in this demarche.

The Umma party is opposed to the rebels’ plans to carry out military attacks to bring down the regime. UNP leader Sadiq Al-Mahdi says such action will bring about more violence and divisions in the country .

(ST)