Revolutionary Front leaders welcome AU decisions on Sudan

The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) has welcomed the AU mediation efforts to merge the issues of Sudan into one platform under auspices of the African High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), headed by former South African president, Thabo Mbeki. The rebel alliance also welcomed the initiative of the mainstream Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to withdraw from the Sudanese government. The SRF furthermore has invited leaders of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) for a meeting to unite their standpoints. “The SRF is currently setting up a High Committee to supervise the upcoming negotiation process, which will start in Addis Ababa on 12 October ,” Dr Jibril Ibrahim, leader of the mainstream Justice and Equality Movement, and co-deputy president of the SRF, an alliance of Sudan’s main rebel movements, told Radio Dabanga on Monday. He explained that a preparatory meeting will be held in Germany “early next month, in which the SRF leadership will discuss the key negotiation issues, the requirements for the coming phase”. Minni Minawi, co-deputy president of the SRF, and leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement-MM, confirmed to Radio Dabanga that the unified negotiation platform on Darfur, South Kordofan and the Blue Nile came at the request of the SRF.“It was recommended by Unamid’s head, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, to the AU, and it was approved by the Qatari stakeholders, after consultations conducted by Mbeki and Ibn Chambas in Doha, capital of Qatar, a week ago.” The first consultation meeting between the SRF and the AUHIP team in Addis Ababa on 12 October “will identify the agenda for the cessation of hostilities, and humanitarian issues. Political and military leaders of the SRF will attend, besides representatives of the AU and the UN,” Minawi noted. Democratic Unionist Party Minawi also confirmed that SRF leaders met with Mohamed Sayed Ahmed, envoy of Mohamed Osman El Mirghani, the president of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in the Ethiopian capital last week.   “We welcomed the initiative by the DUP to withdraw from the Sudanese government, and suspend its cooperation with the ruling party. A final agreement between the SRF and the DUP will be signed in the near future.” National Consensus Forces The rebel leader added that the SRF has invited the leaders of the NCF, a coalition of Sudanese opposition parties), for a meeting to “exchange views and opinions about the future”, in response to NCF’s September Declaration, issued last week. In the September Declaration, the parties of the NCF called for a popular uprising, saying that they are not interested in a national dialogue, “as long as it will not dismantle the one-party-state in Sudan”. “The SRF does not disagree at all with the stance of the NCF,” Minawi said. “The issue of toppling the Khartoum regime, and the dismantling of the government, requires consultations on how to reach an understanding about the path to a democratic Sudan”. File photo: Minni Minawi at a technical workshop on Peace and Security in Darfur, Addis Ababa, 2013 (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related:AU communiqué explains decisions on AUHIP for Sudan (16 September 2014) Sudan’s ruling party hails Addis National Dialogue agreement (14 September 2014)Sudan opposition parties call for ‘intifada’ (12 September 2014) Unamid holds consultations in Doha on Darfur, Sudan’s Dialogue (10 September 2014)Sudan rebels meet with AU panel, UN Special Envoy in Addis Ababa (2 September 2014)