Sudanese Congress Party: ‘Armed movements must be taken seriously’

The comments of the Sudanese armed movements on the Constitutional Declaration must be taken into consideration before the signing of the document, the Sudanese Congress Party said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the party called on “all components of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) to engage in dialogue with the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF, an alliance of Sudan’s armed movements) before the signing of the agreement on August 17.

The Transitional Military Council and the FFC agreed on the contents of the Constitutional Declaration in the early hours of August 3.The document complements the agreements stipulated in a Political Charter that was signed by both parties on July 17.

According to the declaration, the coming interim government will work “towards achieving peace and comprehensive justice and ending the war by addressing the roots of the Sudanese problem and addressing its effects, taking into account provisional preferential measures for war-affected areas, less developed regions, and the most vulnerable groups”.

The SRF has rejected the Constitutional Declaration, saying that the document “disregards the pivotal principles of peace and puts obstacles to the implementation of any coming peace agreement”.

Khaled Omar, Secretary-General of the Sudanese Congress Party told reporters in Khartoum on Monday that “The issue of peace is a serious issue and without which democracy will not be achieved”.

He emphasised that the comments of the SRF on the constitutional document should be taken into account before the final signing of the agreement.

Vice-President of the party, Mastour Ahmed, said that the first tasks of the transitional period will be focused on the issue of peace. He pledged “to work for the inclusion of the comments resulting from discussion and dialogue on peace in the agreement and its implementation in full”.

Rejected

After the junta and the FFC concluded the final text of the Political Charter on July 5, the SRF said it could not accept the accord, calling it “just a contract concluded with the security forces to hit the [armed] movements and oppress the regions in the margin through a so-called civilian legitimacy”.

Malik Agar, head of the Blue Nile faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N Agar) and member of the SRF, called for an urgent meeting of the FFC “to consolidate the unity of the Sudanese opposition” and “to link the democratic transition to a just peace”.

Delegations of the FFC and the SRF met in the Ethiopian capital in the last week of July. They discussed a number of contentious issues concerning the peace-making process. On July 25, they reached an agreement.

According to a joint statement, the two parties agreed that the first task of the new, transitional, government must be to achieve a comprehensive peace agreement. They also decided to establish a joint body led by the FFC for the duration of the transitional period. This body will formulate a united vision on the Political Charter and the Constitutional Declaration.

In its rejection of the Constitutional Declaration, the SRF said that the vision of peace agreed upon by all the parties of the FFC in Addis Ababa, was welcomed and accepted in the negotiating room by the African mediator and representatives of the junta, but it was met with fierce opposition from most representatives of the FFC.

However, the armed movements coalition said they will “continue with the African mediation, the Transitional Military Council and its allies in the political forces to amend the Constitutional Declaration and the political agreement as to include the issues of peace in the form that guarantees their achievement before the final signing on the Constitutional Declaration on August the 17th”.

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