SPLM-N to attend European Parliament hearing on Sudan

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) has accepted the invitation of the European Parliament for a meeting in June.

Mubarak Ardol, spokesman for the SPLM-N negotiation delegation, announced in a statement on Sunday, that the SPLM-N will participate in the European Parliament hearing about Sudan in Strasbourg on 9 June.

Representatives of the National Umma Party, the National Consensus Forces (NCF, a coalition of opposition parties), the Civil Society Initiative, and the other rebel movements allied in the Sudan Revolutionary Front, have been invited too.

In the statement, the SPLM-N spokesman said that his movement is playing a key role in uniting the opposition, and stressed the need to expand the cooperation between all Sudanese opposition forces and continue isolating the Khartoum regime.

The working methods concerning the implementation of the Sudan Appeal documents are to be enhanced, “in particular the document leading to a mass intifada”, he stressed.

Ardol also pointed to the ongoing attacks on civilians and the torching of villages in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, calling for more reporting on “these crimes”.

Several opposition leaders are also expected to take part in an annual meeting about Sudan to be held in Germany later in June.

Europe tour

The SPLM-N is a founding member of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), which signed the Sudan Appeal in Addis Ababa on 3 December last year, together with the NUP, NCF, and the Civil Society Initiative. In the political communiqué, they call for regime-change, and the rebuilding of the country based on principles of equal citizenship and democracy.

The leaders of the SPLM-N are currently touring Europe, for talks about the humanitarian situation in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, after the Sudanese government refused to open relief corridors to aid the affected civilians in both southern Sudanese states.

Peace negotiations, led by the AU High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) between the SPLM-N and the Sudanese government, as well as those between the government and the main Darfur rebel movements stalled early December last year.

Both negotiation rounds reached a deadlock, as the government refused to discuss a number of issues the armed opposition movements insist on dealing with. The rebels “consider a comprehensive peaceful settlement and equal citizenship as inseparable elements to establish a democratic Sudan, while the government insists on restricting the talks to the cessation of hostilities and security arrangements,” Yasir Arman, Secretary-General of the SPLM-N and SRF External Relations Officer, explained Radio Dabanga at the time.

The AUHIP invited the Sudanese government and the Sudan Appeal forces for a preparatory meeting on the National Dialogue in Addis Ababa on 29 March. The ruling party declined to attend at the last moment, saying that it preferred any meeting on the National Dialogue should take place within the country, and that the timing was not appropriate, as the general election would start two weeks later.