Sudan’s opposition NCF doubt value of AUHIP roadmap

The chairman of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) coalition of opposition parties has criticised the signing of the AUHIP roadmap by the Sudan Appeal forces in the current environment in Darfur.

He also criticises Donald Booth, US Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, for remaining silent on the detention of 15 displaced people who met with him in Nierteti during his recent visit to Darfur.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, NCF chairman Faroug Abu Eisa said that the signing of the roadmap in Addis Ababa on Monday was “the result of enormous pressure exerted by the international community through the African Union joint mediator, Thabo Mbeki”.

The leaders of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the Sudan Liberation Movement led by Minni Minawi (SLM-MM), the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), and the National Umma Party (also known as the Sudan Appeal) signed the roadmap in Addis Ababa on Monday, at a ceremony attended by Donald Booth, US Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan.

Referring to the death of five people from the same family in a Jebel Marra bombing raid on Monday, Abu Eisa questioned “why the leadership of Sudan Appeal forces and the National Umma Party, yielded to the unbearable pressure, while the Antonov aircraft were dropping bombs on our people in Jebel Marra in Darfur”.

“At a time when the government was having negotiations with the armed movements of Darfur, ten of the leaders and Sheikhs of the displaced in Nierteti remain detained…”

He also referred to the detention of 15 displaced people, who met with US envoy Booth in Nierteti: “At a time when the government was having negotiations with the armed movements of Darfur, ten of the leaders and Sheikhs of the displaced in Nierteti remain detained. And US envoy Booth has remained silent without uttering a word of protest, nor pressuring the government to release the detainees.”

He called upon Sudan Appeal forces “not to have absolute trust in the international community, that has its own interests, and is now throwing its weight behind the government in line with the strategy in the region”.

Abu Eisa stressed that “the Sudan Appeal forces have not betrayed the people of Sudan and will not do so, because they are fighting in some sites with the capabilities they have and under the international pressure that pushed them into this hole that is difficult to break.”

Loud voices

He said that AU mediator Mbeki expelled his coalition from the process “because of our loud voices. The situation is not promising, dark, and unbalanced. It will not bring an outcome of toppling this regime.

He pointed out that the ongoing war in the country will only come to an end by completely ousting the current National Congress Party regime from power.

Abu Eisa concluded by expressing “distrust that these ongoing meetings in Addis Ababa will bring about any useful change”.