‘Sudan needs new UN mandate, united opposition’: El Mahdi

Sudanese opposition forces have called on the international community to support the adoption of a new peace process mandate by the UN Security Council. In Sudan, they will intensify their efforts to unite all opposition forces under the umbrella of the National Future Forces.

The leaders of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) rebel alliance and the NUP met with international Special Envoys to Sudan in Paris on Wednesday. During the meeting, convened at the French Foreign Ministry, the opposition forces stressed the importance of adopting a nationwide basis for the Sudanese peace negotiations.

The bases for the past peace negotiations are no longer appropriate, regarding the developments in Sudan, El Sadig El Mahdi, president of the National Umma Party (NUP), said in an interview with Radio Dabanga, broadcast today.

“The proposed new mandate for a broad national dialogue should replace the 2011 Doha Document for Peace in Darfur and the peace negotiations on the Two Areas (South Kordofan and the Blue Nile). It should be filed to the UN Security Council, to be adopted under Chapter VII, as a substitute for the separate peace talks Khartoum continues to insist on.

“This is the only way,” El Mahdi stressed, “to compel the Sudanese government to return to the negotiating table. The arrogant Khartoum regime will only respond to calls for a dialogue after being pressured, both by the international community and a strong internal unity.”

Hearing

The opposition leaders were invited to France for a hearing by the EU Parliament on Sudan on Tuesday.

SRF chairman Malik Agar said at the hearing that the new mandate requires the setting of “specific goals, a timeframe for moving the process forward in a meaningful manner and preventing the government’s attempts to delay the process, as well as benchmarks for a truly comprehensive national dialogue process.”

“The arrogant Khartoum regime will only respond to calls for a dialogue after being pressured,”

Other prominent members of the opposition, residing in Sudan, were barred from travelling to Strasbourg by agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).

National Future Forces

El Mahdi further told Radio Dabanga that steps are ongoing in Sudan to unite all opposition forces.

“These National Future Forces will be based on flexible coordination structures and operational mechanisms. A charter will set out the objectives of these forces and a road map to achieve these objectives, which can be summarised as peace and democracy,” he explained.  

He added that efforts are being made to arrange a meeting in a still to be agreed-on African country where representatives of the entire national opposition allied under the new National Future Forces umbrella will hold inclusive consultations on the future of Sudan.

“The proposed conference is to discuss all existing proposals for solving the crises in the country, and agree on new coordinating structures and mechanism to achieve to achieve the legitimate goals of the Sudanese people.”