‘Sudan’s rebels prepared to parley’: Minawi

The Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) is ready to accept “a humanitarian cessation of hostilities in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan before participating in a comprehensive process aiming to achieve peace in Sudan”, said Minni Minawi, Deputy President of the SRF alliance on Wednesday. Minawi spoke during a telephone interview with Sudan Tribune from Geneva. He was participating in an “informal consultation” with foreign diplomats attending a meeting organised by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD Centre) between Sudan’s opposition National Consensus Forces (NCF) and rebel groups. The dialogue meeting was marred by the decision of the Khartoum authorities to ban representatives of the opposition parties from travelling to Geneva, accusing them of “coordinating with the rebels to overthrow the regime”. In a statement released on Wednesday after the conclusion of the discussions, the HD Centre regretted the absence of NCF members and reaffirmed that the purpose of the meeting “was the search for a peaceful resolution to Sudan’s conflicts; particularly the building of a national dialogue process in continuation of the meetings held in Geneva one year ago and the symposium held in Khartoum in March 2013; the latter attended by members of the NCP and the political opposition”. Minawi, who is also the leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minawi (SLM-MM) faction, said they came to Geneva to discuss peaceful means to settle the ongoing crisis in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, stressing they are highly alarmed by the humanitarian situation in the war zones. “The humanitarian situation is our priority and we are willing to sign a cessation of hostilities agreement in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan to allow humanitarian access to the needy in these areas”, he said. Minawi condemned the ban imposed on the NCF representatives and reaffirmed their support for the efforts of the HD Centre to organise such meetings with the Sudanese opposition to discuss ways to settle peacefully the ongoing crises in the country. “We are ready to participate in any future meeting the HD Centre organises with the NCF parties because we are committed to a comprehensive process gathering all Sudanese actors including the opposition forces, National Congress Party (NCP), youth groups and civil society organisations.” He further stressed that no “sustainable peace” can be achieved in Sudan with partial solutions. “This is why we reject separate talks. The SRF proposes to unify all the forums for peace in Sudan,” Minawi said, adding that US and Canadian diplomats who attended the meeting supported this holistic approach. In its statement the HD Centre was careful to underline that “international representatives attended in an observer capacity without influencing the meeting’s outcomes and indicated their support for peaceful conflict resolution and opposition to military means”. The Geneva-based group vowed to continue its efforts to narrow the gaps between the ruling NCP, opposition NCF and the SRF rebels to reach “a peaceful resolution to Sudan’s conflicts that would put an end, once and for all, to war and violent conflict in Sudan”. Among the other participants in the three-day meeting were Ali Al Haj of the Popular Congress Party and Yousef Al Koda, who leads the Al Wasat Islamic party. Farouk Abu Issa, leader of the NCF, did not attend as expected. Also, SPLM-N Secretary General Yasir Arman did not take part in the meeting but his group was represented. File photo: SRF Deputy President Minni Minawi