Sudanese opposition RNM denied meeting permit

Security authorities in Khartoum refused to issue a permit to the opposition Reform Now Movement (RNM) for a public symposium at El Rabita Square in Shambat, Khartoum North, on Saturday.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Mahmoud Jamal, a prominent RNM leader, said that the “Sudanese authorities failed the test after President Al Bashir pledged to restore political and media freedoms”.

He noted that his party now plans to hold the symposium, with the participation of several opposition parties, next Tuesday evening, “with or without a permit”.

The Sudanese president announced the restoration of civil freedoms in the country and a two-month ceasefire in the war-torn Sudanese regions, some time before the launch of the National Dialogue on 10 October, to create a suitable environment for the opposition to participate. Most of the opposition parties and rebel forces declined to participate.

A group of dissidents from the ruling National Congress Party, under the leadership of Dr Ghazi Salaheldin Atabani, founded the RNM in December 2013. Atabani and two other high-profile NCP members were ousted in November. They were among more than 30 prominent NCP reformers who issued a memorandum to President Al Bashir saying the government's response to September fuel price demonstrations betrayed its Islamic foundations.

National Dialogue

According to Ahmed Hussein Adam, Sudanese researcher at Cornell University in the USA, the National Dialogue in Khartoum is “an internal monologue that will never resolve the current crises”.

Adam: “On the contrary, this dialogue will open the door to more corruption, stealing of the people’s money, and will create new privileges for those clinging to power,” he told Radio Dabanga in an interview broadcast on the programme Milafat Sudania on Saturday.

“A number of people involved in the regime’s National Dialogue, including government officials and members of the armed movements profit from the political, economic, and humanitarian crises and will oppose to any solution. They do not intend to give up their luxurious lives in affluent neighbourhoods in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities.

“Spending the Sudanese people’s money on absurd dialogues will only deepen the crises in the country,” he commented.