National Dialogue an Urgent Need!

11:30 AM Jun, 11 2015
Sudanese Online
محمد التجاني عمر قش-
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National Dialogue an Urgent Need!

Mohamed Tigani Omer Gush
mailto:[email protected]@hotmail.com
“Dialogue means we sit and talk with each other, especially those with whom we may think we have the greatest differences. However, talking together all too often means debating, discussing with a view to convincing the other, arguing for our point of view, examining pro’s and con’s.” – Louise Diamond, Ph.D
Sudan is facing a real political or rather an appalling socio-economic dilemma. Accordingly, the ruling party initiated a political process, under the name of National dialogue to be mainly conducted between political parties and the National Congress through a joint body formed of the various factions (7+7 committee) to coordinate the proceedings of said dialogue as well as to contact other political organizations and national figures to take part in the process. First of all, the members of this committee have to convince the opposition forces and rebel groups abroad to join the dialogue, otherwise their efforts to reach a comprehensive political settlement in this war torn country will certainly be futile, altogether. That is so because if the Sudanese political leaders and the rebels do not realize the supreme national interest of the country, including, inter alia, security, sovereignty, prosperity, development and freedom, such process will not conduce to political stability and economic recovery where the whole society will be able to find chances of remunerative employment and to reach output levels achieved prior to downturn. Accordingly, politicians should put the interest of the citizens as their primary and overall objective. However, the National Congress, in its capacity as the ruling party, will have to exert sincere efforts to attract other non participating parties and rebel groups to join the process of national dialogue, though, unconditionally. On the other hand, the armed militias are expected to give up calls to overthrow the regime by force. In this regard, mediation by a powerful and keen third party is urgently required to bridge the gap between the two opposing sides, namely the National Congress and the armed factions. In a nutshell, unless all the combatant parties put their arms down and agree to a peaceful settlement, our national gross income will be spent on military operations and security expenditure, the matter which simply means that no development will take place in the country! Unfortunately, until the various parties to the national dialogue realize these facts, the people of the Sudan are expected to endure further calamities, economic, political, social and worst of all maybe moral. The result will, under all circumstances, be more conflicts and unrest throughout the country, eventually leading to more suffering by the masses who may lose their lives, shelter and be vulnerable to situations even worse than those we now see in many neighboring countries in the region, to name but a few, Libya and Yemen. Thus, national dialogue is a necessity and an urgent need for Sudan and must be given priority by all those involved in the political arena and activity in this miserable country.