NCF calls for ceasefire talks, downplays Bashir’s amnesty offer

One of the leaders of the Sudanese alliance of opposition parties has downplayed the importance of the general amnesty offer by President Omar Al Bashir for the leaders and members of the armed movements who decide to partake in the national dialogue conference in October.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga on Thursday, Siddig Yousif of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) said that the armed movements whose leaders are faced with death sentences and life imprisonment have agreed to engage in the national dialogue only under certain conditions. “The leaders of the forces who have agreed to enagage in the dialogue have not been sentenced to death.”

Regarding the two-month ceasefire Al Bashir has declared, Yousif explained that this can be a step forward if it is followed by joint meetings between the government and the armed movements to agree on the technical arrangements for the cessation of hostilities.

“The amnesty decision is conditioned with the approval to engage in the dialogue. It doesn't make sense.”

He stressed the importance of the identifcation of buffer zones between the forces and the need to set-up a mechanism to monitor the ceasefire, saying that the Unamid can play this role.

President presses for dialogue

President Omar Al Bashir issued a general amnesty this week to and declared a ceasefire as a goodwill gesture to bring non-participants on board to dialogue.

On the occasion of Eid El Adha holiday, Al Bashir said that “the present moment” in the country is the most pressing for the adoption of dialogue to maintain Sudan’s unity, political stability, economic and social development.

He said in a speech on Thursday that it is urgent to adopt his national dialogue initiative as a means to confront the challenges Sudan faces “within the roaring Arabic and African neighbourhood”.

Al Bashir launched the initiative for the national dialogue in January 2014. The process suffered major setbacks after the withdrawal of the opposition National Umma Party and Reform Now Movement, and the non-participation of armed rebels as well as leftist forces.

In his speech Al Bashir also congratulated the Saudi-led military alliance operating in Yemen “to defend the security of the land of the Two Holy [mosques] and restore legitimacy and hope to Yemen”. He saluted the Sudanese forces that are part of the alliance and other members of the security and military apparatus for carrying out their “sacred” duty in protecting their homeland.

(Source: Radio Dabanga, Sudan Tribune)