Heal of the Sovereign Council in Sudan Tuesday called on the various political forces to join a dialogue process facilitated by the African Union, IGAD and UNITAMS.
The Trilateral Mechanism will launch on Wednesday the Intra-Sudanese dialogue which will take place without the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) leaders who consider that the process is designed to satisfy all the benchmarks set by the coup leaders.
In a speech to the Sudanese on Tuesday night, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan described the process as a “historical opportunity” to achieve the desired democratic transition.
“I hope and request the various components involved in this dialogue to participate and not hinder sustaining transition and democratic transformation,” he said.
“Because the nation and its people deserve to rise above our differences, and put them above all our partisan, regional or personal demands,” he further added.
Hours before his speech, the National Umma Party (NUP) issued a statement confirming their rejection to attend this meeting as it had been decided with their allies in the FFC groups.
“The party will not participate in any dialogue that has no defined goals and parties, according to an agreed political process,” reads a statement issued by the NUP.
On October 25, the military leaders ousted the FFC government and imposed a state of emergency following a rift over the agreed rotation of the Sovereign Council and the implementation of the security sector reforms.
Already before the coup, the military leaders pressed Hamdok to dissolve the FFC government and to form a cabinet including members from outside FFC groups.
The FFC groups say that the process should lead to the formation of a civilian government to implement the reforms paving the way for democracy.
Al-Burhan renewed the pledge of the military to enforce the outcome of the dialogue conference and to remain away from the political scene.
US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Molly Phee and Saudi Ambassador to Khartoum, Ali bin Hassan Jaafar met with the Sovereign Council military committee headed by Lt Gen Mohamed Hamdan Hemetti to discuss the dialogue process.
“The Military Committee affirmed during the meeting its full support for the efforts of the trilateral mechanism facilitating the political process between the Sudanese parties,” said the Sovereign Council.
Also, the director of the North America Department at the Sudanese foreign ministry Kamal Bashir told reporters that the meeting agreed to support the efforts of the facilitating mechanism to reach an agreement over the formation of a transitional civilian government.
For her part, Phee posted a tweet saying she and the Saudi Ambassador held a meeting “With the military’s negotiating mechanism to urge real progress towards a civilian-led government and support for the AU-UN-IGAD process”.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera TV, FFC leadership member Yasir Arman stated that Phee understood their refusal to take part in the process.
He added that for a political process to be meaningful it should be “based on the right foundations”.
Besides the FFC, the Resistance committees and the Sudanese Communist Party also declined to participate in the political process
Source: Sudan Tribune