January 11, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - Mohamed Abdel-Rahman Al-Nayer, the Spokesman of the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW) said that his Movement would launch an initiative to hold a national conference for peace inside the country by the end of January.

The SLM-AW declined to take part in the ongoing negotiations for a comprehensive brokered by the government of South Sudan. The holdout group says the Forces for Freedom and Change and the military component of the transitional government have no legitimacy as they are accused of stealing the revolution.

Addressing via Skype a public event to mark the first anniversary of the Sudanese revolution in Khartoum on 26 December, al-Nur called for a comprehensive process inside the country. He also said the root causes of the different conflicts across are the same and necessitate one solution.

In statements to Sudan Tribune on Saturday, al-Nayer said that the SLM-AW was finalizing internal discussions on its initiative to transfer peace negotiations inside the country before to file it to the government, political and armed groups by the end of January.

"The Movement’s proposes a comprehensive peace conference gathering all the components of the society: political parties, armed groups, displaced persons and refugees, religious leaders, traditional leaders of the Native Administration, the military, and civil society organisations," he added.

He emphasized that the "Initiative does not talk about negotiations with the Sudanese government, but a peace conference"

In his speech of 26 December, al-Nur called on the Resistance Committees of the revolution, local structures that organized protests on the level of neighbourhoods to make a reality in the country.

“I call on you to unite in our causes and to make peace in Darfur, Kordofan, the Blue Nile, the Nuba Mountains, north and east Sudan as one issue, The same thing for the state of citizenship, issues of religious freedom and women’s rights. All these issues should be solved in one forum,” he said directing his words to the youth.

The initiative, also, calls for an "independent government" to be led by the Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok who met him in Paris in September 2019.

Call for humanitarian access

In a related development, al-Nur called on the Sudanese government to allow humanitarian access in Darfur.

According to the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA), al-Nur called on the government to take the needed measures to allow the return of international aid groups to the region.

"He called to prove the goodwill to move towards real peace, indicating that the expulsion of international organizations by the former regime was collective punishment for them," said SUNA.

(ST)