Signatories for change in Sudan hold first meeting

In the first meeting of its kind since the signing of the Declaration of Freedom and Change in early 2019, the signatory forces highlighted that the declaration includes general principles and a wide range of forces calling for change.

It also includes the establishment of a democratic alternative, and denied monopoly of the struggle.

The meeting was held at the headquarters of the National Umma Party (NUP) in Omdurman on Tuesday.

In a joint statement, Sudan Call spokesman Mohamed Faroug welcomed all the efforts and national initiatives that are working to bring down the regime and put the country on a transitional path that eliminates the state of corruption and tyranny and establishes a comprehensive democratic transition.

The statement stressed the inspiration of the Sudanese State Structure Charter as a basis for agreeing on detailed alternative policies to be implemented by the transitional government and called on the regime to step down now and spare the blood of Sudanese, this as well as calling on the regular forces to stop protecting the regime that has lost legitimacy and bias to the people.

Sudanese Professionals Association

Dr Mohamed El Mustafa, one of the speakers for the Sudanese Professionals Association, said that there is no way to retreat from toppling the regime or any compromise.

At the press conference, he stressed the need to sit with the signatories of initiatives to ensure wide participation in the revolutionary work and the transition period.

He pointed out that the current revolutionary movement is based on young men and women in cities and towns, stressing that the Sudanese Professionals Association, who announced the Declaration of Freedom and Change on January 1, and the other signatories are making vigorous efforts to ensure more active participation of the many displaced in the country, people living in the peripheries, and the Sudanese abroad so as to contribute their opinion in making decisions about the future of the country.

He stressed the adherence to freedoms and accountability of the perpetrators of crimes and that there is no room for amnesty or settlement only by the victims.

He said the Sudanese Professionals Association is a gathering of young professionals including doctors, journalists, lawyers and university lecturers who have close ties to the youth movement.

He stressed that the Association does not claim to be the only owners of the solution nor does it have a good opinion alone, explaining that the task of change is a popular task.

Youths and women manage change

He said that all the categories of people, especially youths and women are the ones who manage the wheel of revolution and change.

Mohamed El Khateeb, Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Sudan who addressed the press conference on behalf of the National Consensus Forces (NCF, an alliance of -leftist- opposition parties), stressed the consensus of all the signatories of the Declaration of Freedom and Change to overthrow what he called the regime of parasitic capitalism wearing Islam as a mask and its dismantling and liquidation of its deep state.

Interim Constitution

He pointed to an interim Constitution for a transitional period of four years, pointing to the convening of a constitutional conference at the end of the transitional period for drafting the constitution.

He pointed out that the NCF have submitted a draft constitutional declaration to the coordination of the revolution to agree on the constitution.

He praised the escalation of the uprising and its steadfastness for two months and its launch from the states, adding that it is gaining daily new and effective forces and concepts.

He stressed the continuation of the demonstrations to the political strike, civil disobedience and paralysing the capabilities of the regime.

He called on the national professionals and nationalists, who have not yet joined the professionals association to organise themselves.

He predicted that the revolution would face obstacles in the form of an internal and external counter-revolution using soft methods of deviation through radical change and a return to the old path.

Sudan Call

Sarah Nugdallah, Secretary-General of the National Umma Party, who addressed the press conference on behalf of the Sudan Call (a coalition of armed movements, NUP, NCF, and the Civil Society Initiative called on the initiators to support the street movement and to engage in the Declaration of Freedom and Change as an entry to bring down the entire regime.

She pointed out that continuing to work hard to develop the Declaration of Freedom and Change into a national charter constitutes the basis for overthrowing the regime, establishing a transitional regime that crosses the country to democratic salvation, puts an emergency solution to economic collapse, ends the war and achieves peace.

She called on human rights organisations to investigate and condemn the crimes of the regime and expose its violations of human rights.

The representative for the Unionists opposition, Prof Mirghani Ibn Auf, ridiculed the authorities’ description of the revolutionaries as the agents of foreign powers.

He explained that the real crisis is the arrogance and tyranny of the ruler.

He stressed the ability of the Sudanese people to overthrow the regime.

He also stressed the importance of the role of the private sector in leading the economic action in the future.

Professor Muawia Shaddad, representative of the civil society, affirmed their support for the Declaration of Freedom and Change without reservation, referring to the formation of committees to look at the emergency policies, the transitional administration’s charters and details.