Sudan’s president Omer Hassan al-Bashir has instructed the ruling party organs to set a timetable in coordination with the dialogue body known as “7+7” to convene the national dialogue following Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Bashir, who attended the emergency meeting of the political sector of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) on Thursday, expressed his party’s commitment to hold the national dialogue in order to achieve national accord.
The head of the NCP political sector, Mustafa Osman Ismail, said the president stressed that the dialogue would be hold under the title “dialogue for all those who accept dialogue”, underscoring that no party will be excluded from the dialogue once they accept its principles.
“The national dialogue is a Sudanese initiative and it would remain Sudanese and will be held inside Sudan,” Bashir emphasized.
Bashir further underscored that there is no room for holding the dialogue abroad, calling for the need to activate the societal dialogue mechanisms.
The government refusal to create a conducive environment including the implementation of confidence building measures forced the National Umma Party (NUP) to suspend its participation in the process. Also, the Reform Now Movement (RNM) and the Just Peace Forum (JPF) marked their distance with the process but the latter resumed its participation recently.
In February 2015, the holdout National Consensus Forces (NCF), the alliance of rebel groups, Sudanese Revolutionary Forces and the NUP accepted to negotiate with the government on pre-dialogue measures before to join the internal process but the ruling party declined to meet them before the elections.
Ismail for his part said the political sector would immediately contact the 7+7 committee to agree on a timetable to start the dialogue after the Eid al-Fitr holiday within two weeks.
The Sudanese president pointed the objective of the dialogue is to achieve peace and political stability, besides building open foreign relations and resolving basic issues pertaining to livelihoods and the economic conditions.
The international community expressed its support for the dialogue but since Khartoum refusal to participate in the preparatory meeting last March many countries expressed scepticism about the seriousness of the ruling party to hold a genuine process leading to achieve peace and reforms in Sudan.
The emergency meeting, which was held in the presence of the NCP deputy chairman, Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid, discussed a detailed report on the activities carried out by the various secretaries during the previous period besides the efforts made to activate the national dialogue.
Bashir launched the national dialogue initiative more than a year and a half ago in which he urged opposition parties and rebels alike to join the dialogue table to discuss all the pressing issues.
