Sudanese opposition to discuss organizational issues in Paris

April 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The opposition “Sudan Call” forces will hold a four-day meeting in the French capital Paris to discuss ways to discuss the adoption of its final structures and its extension to include more political forces.

This meeting is a continuation of a previous meeting held in Paris in November 2015, with the participation of the National Consensus Forces (NCF), National Umma Party (NUP), Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Sudan Liberation Movement -Minni Minnawi, (SLM-MM) Sudan People’s Liberation Movement -North (SPLM-N) and Civil Society Initiative (CSI).

At the time it was agreed to form a coordination council including leaders of the Sudan Call factions to develop the work, documents and structures of the alliance. Also it adopted a joint action charter aiming to topple the regime by peaceful means signed in December, 2014 in Addis Ababa.

Sudan Tribune learnt that delegations from the SPLM-N led by Malik Agar and Yasir Arman, SLM-MM led by Minni Minnawi, JEM led by Gibril Ibrahim arrived to Paris on Sunday. It would be followed on Sunday evening by the NCF delegation including its leader Farouk Abu Issa, Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) secretary-general Mohamed Mukhtar al-Khatib and the leader of the Sudanese Congress Party, Omer al-Dugair. NUP leader Sadiq al-Mahdi and his delegation will arrive on Monday.

Last March, JEM, NUD, SLM-MM and SPLM-N refused to ink a Roadmap Agreement brokered by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), saying it excludes their partners in the Sudan Call alliance and acknowledges the ongoing political conference in Khartoum as basis for the national dialogue process.

In a related development, the Future Forces for Change (FFC), DUP and Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) – Jibril Ibrahim in a meeting held in Khartoum Sunday agreed on the need for an inclusive dialogue in Sudan.

According to a statement released in the Sudanese capital, the meeting backed a proposal by the DUP leader Sadiq al-Mahdi providing to create a new umbrella including all the exiting opposition groups and to set up a joint coordination mechanism.

(ST)