Sudan Call alliance holds first meeting in Khartoum since uprising

The Sudan Call alliance of opposition parties and armed movements held a meeting in Khartoum for the first time since the formation of the current transitional government. On Saturday, PM Hamdok met with the Chairman of the National Umma Party (NUP) El Sadig El Mahdi at his home in Omdurman.

Sudan Call (also called Sudan Appeal) is an alliance of Sudanese political, civil, and armed groups, founded on the basis of a two-page communique of the same name, signed in Addis Ababa in December 2014. The signatories agreed to cooperate in order to dismantle the one-party system of the now deposed Omar Al Bashir regime and to build a nation based on democratic values and equal citizenship.

The Secretary-General of the Sudan Call, Minni Minawi, called for the meeting in Khartoum to discuss the development of the alliance and its role in the nationwide Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) coalition, which formed the political basis for the current transitional government. The meeting concluded with the formation of two committees. The first committee will deal with the organisational and political reform within the FFC. The second committee concerns the development of the Sudan Call alliance.

In a statement on Saturday, the NUP said that the chairman of the party, El Sadig El Mahdi, met PM Hamdok and Minister of Cabinet Affairs Omar Manis in his home in Omdurman. The meeting discussed a number of issues including the recent decision of the NUP to freeze its participation within the FFC. “El Mahdi and PM Hamdok agreed to continue the communication further,” the statement concluded.

The rebel alliance Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) is a co-founding member of the Sudan Call Forces and thus a member of the FFC. However, over weeks, both SRF and the NUP complained about the FFC and the government.

In a statement last week, the National Umma Party decided to suspend its participation in the nationwide coalition FFC claiming that the coalition needs reform and structure. Also, the SRF issued statements regarding the outstanding issues with the FFC or the government.

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