March 3, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese government should accept the establishment of an interim regime before holding a constitutional conference, said an opposition official following a consultative meeting held this weekend in the capital Khartoum.

FILE PHOTO - Leaders of Sudan’s opposition colaition in a picture taken in 2012 (ST)

The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre), a conflict mediation group based in Geneva, organised last Saturday informal consultations between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudanese opposition over ways to hold a national dialogue in the country.

The Centre said in a short statement released in Khartoum following the closed door meeting that the participants attended in their personal capacities.

The spokesperson of the National Consensus Forces, Kamal Omer Abdel Salam, told reporters on Sunday that the opposition would not take part in a national dialogue conference unless the ruling NCP accepts to leave power and to form interim institutions.

Kamal went further to disclose they demanded that the regime should accept a new interim constitution dealing not only with the transitional institutions but also include other provisions to ensure a real comprehensive democratic change in the country.

He underscored that this informal meeting was meant to identify the positions of the different parties before proposing a formula to hold a dialogue between the parties in the future.

The Sudanese government formed a committee chaired by vice-president Al-Haj Adam Yassein to consult the opposition parties on the constitutional conference after the secession of South Sudan in July 2011 and the end of the interim period established by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

A member of this committee, Ismail Al-Haj Musa, stated last Saturday that their role is to convince political parties to participate in this process, which the government intends to hold, but not to elaborate a new constitution.

The government refuses the demands of the opposition saying there is no need for a transitional regime as the president and the parliament are elected in the general election held in April 2010 and monitored by international observers.

The opposition believes that an all-party conference including the rebel groups should take place before discussing the new constitution. But the government on the other hand thinks that talks can be held with the SPLM-N on the basis of the CPA, pointing out that Doha document proposes a just solution for the Darfur crisis.

Kamal told a reporter that the HD Centre had planned initially to hold Saturday’s meeting in Geneva but the government managed to convince the organisers to organise it in Khartoum.

(ST)