Sudan’s rebels to consult AU in Addis this Sunday

A delegation of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF, a coalition between the main rebel movements in Sudan) will meet on Sunday in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, with the AU’s chief mediator, Thabo Mbeki, and the chairman of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.The delegates will consult the AU officials on how to bring about a comprehensive peace to Sudan without negotiating with the government, in accordance with the Paris Declaration the SRF signed with the National Umma Party earlier this month. Abdel Wahid El Nur, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) and Vice-President of the SRF, told Radio Dabanga that the head of the SRF, Malik Agar, and the leader of the Umma Party, El Sadig El Mahdi, have received a direct call from Mbeki and the African Union, inviting the signatories of the Paris Declaration to consult with him. “The meeting on Sunday is a consultative meeting and has absolutely nothing to do with any negotiations with the Sudanese regime,” Abdel Wahid stressed. Mbeki, chairman of the AU High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), recently received his new function as chairman of a High Commission to support the National Dialogue process in Sudan. He consulted with Sudan’s political parties and opposition parties in Khartoum one week ago. Today (Friday), the chairman met with El Mahdi in Addis Ababa. SRF, El Mahdi travel to African countries Abdel Wahid pointed out that after meeting Mbeki, the SRF delegation will also meet with AU ambassadors of African countries in Ethiopia, to explain to them the Paris Declaration, and brief them on the roadmap the rebel coalition set up in April this year. Furthermore, the delegation will sit down with El Mahdi and discuss the future of the Paris Declaration and the tours both signatories have undertaken in an attempt to explain the declaration to the international and regional community. El Mahdi has travelled to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ethiopia, and will then fly to South Africa to address the parliament.In relation to this, Abdel Wahid told Radio Dabanga that the SRF leadership plans to travel to several countries in Africa. “The SRF is working towards a comprehensive change in Sudan,” Abdel Wahid concluded, stressing the need for an international intervention in Sudan. The Paris Declaration The Paris Declaration was signed on 8 August in Paris. It is a statement to unite Sudan’s opposition forces and their solution to a “democratic transformation in Sudan”. The SRF has unilaterally decided to cease all hostilities in the areas it operates in, hoping it will result in a halt on air strikes, and improved humanitarian access. News photo: El Sadig El Mahdi, head of the NUP, sits at the right side of the table during a consultative meeting with Thabo Mbeki, chairman of the AU High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday.Related: Sudan’s rebels, Umma Party invited to Addis Ababa(25 August 2014) AU mediator Mbeki meets opposition forces in Sudan’s capital (19 August 2014)‘Sudan’s regime should accept Paris Declaration’: El Mahdi (11 August 2014)Rebel SRF road map ‘towards National Dialogue Sudan’ (25 April 2014)