KHARTOUM

(

21 Aug

.) -

The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF, an alliance of the main rebel movements) has denied reports published in Khartoum about a prospective meeting in Germany between leaders of the SRF and Dr Ibrahim Ghandour, Assistant to the President. According to the National Umma Party (NUP) a meeting will soon take place between the SRF leadership, NUP head El Sadig El Mahdi, and the chairman of the AU High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), Thabo Mbeki.

Ghandour arrived to Berlin on Monday, following an official invitation by the German government.

The Foreign Relations Secretary for the SRF, Yasir Arman, told Radio Dabanga that “those reports about a meeting between the SRF and Ghandour in Germany are incorrect”. He stressed that the rebel alliance have not received an invitation to meet with Ghandour. “We are not surprised, as Khartoum categorically refuses to meet with the SRF.”

“Besides, no SRF leader would discuss or accept a partial solution in bilateral deals. We strive for a comprehensive solution for the various crises in Sudan. The SRF prefers to have meetings with Sudanese citizens, to work together for peace, democracy, and enough food for the people of Sudan.”

Meeting with Mbeki

In Omdurman, the sister-city of Khartoum, the NUP reported on Wednesday that an encounter is being arranged between the SRF leadership, NUP president El Sadig El Mahdi, and Thabo Mbeki.

Maj. Gen. Fadlallah Burma Nasir, NUP Co-Vice President, also told Radio Dabanga that El Mahdi is not afraid of being detained on his return to Khartoum from Cairo, where he is residing now. “After completing his tasks of informing international and regional actors about the Paris Declaration, we will explore the possibility of his return from abroad.”

National Dialogue

Mbeki, chief mediator of the stalled peace negotiations between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), was recently appointed by the AU as chairman of a new AU committee to support the process of Sudan’s National Dialogue. The Dialogue was launched by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) earlier this year, to bring together all political forces with the aim to end the wars in the country, and produce a permanent constitution.

The Sudanese government and the opposition parties participating in the National Dialogue insist on an inter-Sudanese dialogue, accusing “regional and international powers” of seeking to hinder the National Dialogue.

“The AUHIP chief has only a monitoring role,” Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Samia Ahmed Mohamed stressed. “Though it would be good if the AUHIP mediator could bridge the gaps with the SPLM-N”.

A Sudanese Court of Appeal on 5 August upheld the death penalties in absentia for Malik Agar, the chairman of the SPLM-N, Yasir Arman, SPLM-N’s Secretary-General, and 15 other leaders of the movement.

File photo: Thabo Mbeki (L) and Ibrahim Ghandour (R) during a press conference after a meeting with President Omar Al Bashir in Khartoum, February 2014

Arabic Forum