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Roundup: Sudan resumes national dialogue after general elections

Xinhua, May 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Sudan's National Dialogue Committee on Saturday held its first meeting after general elections amid optimism that the resumption of the dialogue would remove tension in Sudan's political arena.

The recent general elections in Sudan, conducted on April 13, created a state of tension between political parties as major opposition parties boycotted the general elections after the government refused to delay them, which led to the halt of the national dialogue initiated by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in January 2014.

The committee brought together representatives of seven political parties participating in the government, led by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), and seven opposition parties, including the Popular Congress Party (PCP).

"The meeting of the mechanism reviewed the status of the national dialogue and its consequences, courses, directions, political path and future prospect," Mustafa Osman Ismail, chairman of the NCP political sector and member of the committee, told reporters.

"After thorough consultations, the meeting acknowledged the importance of the dialogue and the necessity to carry on to complete its march through renewing the invitation to all the political forces, the armed movements and the opposition parties," he added.

The committee is tasked with working out a road-map on current political issues in Sudan, including realizing comprehensive peace, reaching consensus on a permanent constitution for Sudan, setting up structures for rule and tackling the country's economic conditions.

It is scheduled that the Sudanese president would start a comprehensive conference for the national dialogue after the committee reaches a work program to be discussed by all the Sudanese political forces.

"Today's meeting was characterized by a high consensus of spirit and reflected keenness of everybody that the dialogue would reach its aspired goals," Kamal Omer, PCP political secretary and member of the committee on the part of the opposition, told reporters.

He said the willingness of the national dialogue mechanism to contact the rejecting political forces and armed movements to join the national dialogue to achieve peace and stability.

"We are relying on the internal comprehensive national dialogue and at the same time insisting on the necessity of involving all parties," he noted.

In January 2014, the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir declared an initiative inviting the opposition parties and the armed movements to enter into a national dialogue to tackle the country's issues.

Al-Bashir's invitation found a relative acceptance from the Sudanese political forces, but the ruling NCP insisted that the elections should be conducted as scheduled, which crippled the dialogue process after some active opposition parties pulled out in protest against the move.

Meanwhile, Ahmed Bilal Osman, member of the dialogue committee representing the Democratic Unionist Party which participated in the government, also urged the parties to reject the dialogue to join it.

"We call on the opponents to join this peaceful process which would find solutions to our country's issues," he noted.

The national dialogue faced a setback after the opposition National Umma Party, led by Saddiq al-Mahdi, pulled out from the initiative of the national dialogue in protest against the security authorities' arrest of the party leader on May 17 last year.

The armed movements in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions also rejected to join the dialogue, insisting that a parallel forum should be established under the supervision of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel.

Nevertheless, analysts seem to be optimistic that the national dialogue would overcome all barriers and reach its goals.

Abdul-Fatah Hussein, a Sudanese political analyst, told Xinhua that "the opportunity is now availed for overcoming the current political reality through a serious dialogue that leads to consensus over Sudan's crucial issues."

"Resumption of the committee's work is likely to remove the tension in the Sudanese political area because of the election and different stances of the political forces." Endit