Minni Arko Minnawi, Darfur Governor and SLM leader, accused the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) of seeking to restore bilateral partnership with the military component and exclude the other political forces.
In an interview with Sudan Tribune on Tuesday Minnawi held the FFC (Executive Council( responsible for the cancellation of the preliminary meeting the trilateral mechanism had planned earlier in May 2022.
The reason behind their rejection of this meeting is “the desire to create a secret bilateral partnership with the military component once again,” he said.
The UNITAMS, African Union and IGAD held a series of separate meetings with different political and social forces instead of a joint meeting to agree on a formula for the intra-Sudanese dialogue to end the current political crisis.
The FFC opposes involving political and civil society forces that were allied with the former regime in the dialogue describing them as “facades fabricated” by the military component to form a coalition enabling them to keep power and thwart the democratic transition.
However, Minnawi ruled out the failure of the dialogue process stressing it is the only option for all the parties.
He underscored that dialogue on national issues has no time limits or restrictions on the issues under discussion.
The facilitators hope to launch the process in the coming days as they emphasized that the political and economic situation does not tolerate further delay, particularly as the coup leaders lift the state of emergency and committed themselves to end bloody repression.
The SLM leader said the political crisis was not caused by the military coup of October 2021.
The stalemate began on April 11, 2019, “when the Forces for Freedom and Change betrayed (its partners of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front) and replaced them with the military component based on racist and ideological grounds.”
“Even the rift and the disruption of institutions existed a month before October 25,” he added.
He went further to say that the events of October 25 were part of a race between the two former partners.
“Maybe the military managed to eliminate them. Nonetheless, that was not the beginning of the crisis, but one of its ramifications,” he said.
After the collapse of the al-Bashir regime in April 2019, the FFC and the armed groups of the Sudanese Revolutionary Forces (SRF) failed to reach an agreement enabling them to join the negotiations with the Transitional Military Council.
The military and civilian components signed a political declaration and the Constitutional Declaration on August 17, 2019, without the SRF groups which opted for peace talks with the transitional government.
Following the signing of the Juba Peace Agreement in October 2020, Minnawi continued to demand to review Constitutional Declaration to end “the grip” of the Forces for Freedom and Change on power.
When Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan rejected to transfer the chairmanship of the Sovereign Council to civilians and refused to implement security reforms, the SLM leader and his allies led demonstrations and sit-ins calling on the army to seize power and dissolve Hamdok’s government.
Rumoured return of Islamists
Minnawi denied the return of Islamists to power after the coup of October 25.
He described reports about the return of Sudanese Islamists as “mere rumours by parties who have fears and want to rule without elections.”
“The return of the Islamists and their control of the state’s affairs will not happen. The fact that they are active in the political arena is a natural right for every Sudanese.”
Unity of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front
Minnawi ruled out the reunification of the alliance of the armed groups.
He said all the political coalitions, including the SRF, only aimed to bring down the former regime but did not have clear policies for the post-Bashir regime.
“S, this hastened the collapse of these alliances after the change”.
“The Revolutionary Front fell on September 15, 2015, when the SPLM-N refused to fulfil its constitutional commitment,” he said referring to a first split that had occurred at the time when Agar refuse to cede the chairmanship of the alliance to a Darfurian group.
Source: Sudan Tribune