‘Positive developments in Sudan dialogue’: Al Bashir

President Omar Al Bashir claimed that the country’s National Dialogue will see important developments, during a conference of the ruling party on Thursday. Opposition leader Hassan El Turabi attended the conference, a move that surprised the National Congress Party members and triggered calls for the unification of Sudanese Islamists. Al Bashir confirmed that his National Congress Party (NCP) accepted the agreement of the National Dialogue that the dialogue committee reached in Addis Ababa, with the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) and rebel groups on 4 September. He further called on the armed rebel movements in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile to join the dialogue, an initiative for which he called for in January this year. The President acknowledged to the NCP members at the convention that the secession of South Sudan in 2011 has had negative economic consequences for Sudan. Turabi stresses dialogue’s importanceUntil last Thursday, Popular Congress Party (PCP) leader Hassan El Turabi had not entered the headquarters of the NCP for about 15 years, since the rift between the Islamist party leadership. He addressed the conference stressing the need for an inclusive national dialogue that leads to a national unity, “to expand Sudan’s cause to the south, the north, the east, and the west. “We want the National Dialogue to be free, so that people will not be involved in violence for the sake of freedom. We also want it to be organised and secured, without being manipulated by any organiser. And we want the public, despite the misery inflicted on them, to find a good omen in the dialogue,” Turabi explained. The PCP political secretary, Kamal Omer, on Thursday defended the support of his party for the National Dialogue, stressing that does not means they accommodate the ruling party. ‘Dialogue has failed’: NCF Mohamed Diya, the head of information of the National Consensus Forces (NCF), an alliance of opposition parties, told Radio Dabanga: “No one listens to President Al Bashir’s repeated lies, nor has any trust in any talks of Al Bashir [such as the National Dialogue, ed.]”. Diya claimed that the dialogue has failed, because of the lack of seriousness. The NCF has lost its trust in any upcoming dialogue initiative by the regime, he said. File photo: Hassan El Turabi (left), leader of the Popular Congress Party, and President Omar Al Bashir (Sudan Vision) Related: ‘Sudan regime keeps to its principles’: Al Bashir (28 September 2014) Sudan’s ruling party hails Addis National Dialogue agreement (14 September 2014)