‘More advocacy needed for Sudan Appeal’: Communist Party

The Sudanese Communist Party’s Political Bureau has called for increasing advocacy for the Sudan Appeal, to promote the aims set out in the declaration, signed by opposition forces in Addis Ababa early this month. In a statement released on Tuesday, the SCP welcomed the Sudan Appeal declaration, considering it “a breakthrough regarding the unification of the Sudanese civil society, opposition parties, and the armed rebel movements”. According to the party, the declaration constitutes “a large step forwards for the Sudanese people, and their victory, to be realised either through a serious and fruitful dialogue, or a popular uprising”. “The principles, as stated in the Sudan Appeal, will also contain conflicts that may arise after the regime has been dismantled,” the statement read. The party’s Bureau pressed for a broad advocacy campaign to be launched inside the country and abroad. In Radio Dabanga’s programme “Sudanese Files”, broadcasted in Arabic today (Wednesday), SCP Political Secretary Mukhtar El Khatib reiterated that his party considers a broad national dialogue “by far the best solution for the many crises in Sudan, rather than an intifada”. “Our conditions for joining such a dialogue include an end to the civil wars in the country, delivery of relief to the affected, the abolition of freedoms-restricting laws, and the release of all political detainees.” On 3 December, leaders of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF, an alliance of the main rebel movements, the National Consensus Forces (NCF, a coalition of opposition parties), the National Umma Party, and the Sudanese civil society signed the Sudan Appeal in Addis Ababa. In the two-page declaration, the joint opposition forces state that Sudan is slipping into an abyss. They refer to the various crises in the country, the violent conflicts, wars, and humanitarian suffering on the one hand, and economic and political bankruptcy on the other, stressing that a comprehensive solution cannot be adjourned much longer. The signatories agreed to cooperate in order to dismantle the one-party system, for the sake of a nation based on democratic values and equal citizenship. Faroug Abu Eisa, who signed on behalf of the NCP, and Dr Amin Mekki Madani, representative of the Sudanese civil society, were detained by security officers inside their homes in Khartoum on 6 December, a day after their return from the Ethiopian capital. They are being held incommunicado until today. File photo Related:Sudan opposition leaders still held incommunicado (11 December 2014)Opposition forces sign ‘Sudan Appeal’ in Addis Ababa (3 December 2014)