Interview with Sudan Liberation Movement leader El Nur: Paris meeting with Hamdok ‘friendly and frank’

Abdelwahid El Nur, head of the mainstream Sudan Liberation Movement faction (SLM-AW), described his meeting with Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok at the French Foreign Ministry in Paris on Sunday as a friendly and frank. He says they discussed the roots of the historical Sudanese crisis and solutions.

A second meeting between Hamdok and El Nur planned from Monday evening did not materialise as their schedules clashed, however talks will continue in meetings between the parties.

El Nur, who is living in exile in Paris, said in an interview with Radio Dabanga broadcast today that most of the solutions presented by the movement at the meeting in the French capital found approval with Hamdok. He added that the movement is “now awaiting the results of whether Hamdok has the power and authority to establish peace according to what we have explained and detailed and what we call for”.

“We have no problem with Hamdok. He is a great man and we are proud of him, and we also have no problem with many of those appointed in the government…” – Abdelwahid El Nur

El Nur was at pains to point out that he met with Hamdok not in his capacity as prime minister, but in his personal capacity as a Sudanese figure, “because we do not recognise the new government or its Sovereign Council, which represents the Al Bashir security infrastructure that committed genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in Darfur, the Two Areas, and the rest of Sudan.

“We have no problem with Hamdok. He is a great man and we are proud of him, and we also have no problem with many of those appointed in the government,” he conceded.

He stressed that “the demand of the Sudanese uprising was a 100 per cent civilian government, which did not happen. We reject this, and adhere to full civilianisation.”

In today’s interview, El Nur says that the solution for his movement to move forward in the peace process lies with the military in the Sovereign Council  to hand over full power to the people. “Then all Sudanese can sit together to determine the crisis of Sudan and its solutions.”

El Nur said that the demands also include stopping the ongoing killings and rapes in Darfur and the rest of Sudan, the return of all the organisations that were ousted by Omar al-Bashir unconditionally, in addition to handing those wanted to the International Criminal Court, disarming the militias, and reforming the justice system.

El Nur says his movement also stipulates the return of all displaced people and refugees to their villages, along with full freedoms of opinion, expression, press, and publications.

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