Rebels: Delegation negotiating with Sudan’s Transitional Military Council ‘does not represent SRF’

The Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of three rebel movements) has confirmed that the delegation of the forces of Freedom and Change which has been meeting the Transitional Military Council since April 11 to date does not represent the SRF.

The SRF stressed in a statement on Monday that the political vision presented to the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and the resulting nominations and proposals are not agreed upon nor do they represent the SRF.

The TMC seized power on April 11 by means of a coup, overthrowing President Omar Al Bashir, who himself seized power in a coup in 1989 that ousted the democratically elected government of prime minister El Sadig El Mahdi, now leader of Sudan’s National Umma Party, and the Sudan Call coalition of opposition movements, who recently returned to Sudan from years in exile on 19 December.

‘Exclusionist’

The SRF statement pointed out that “the exclusionist tendency of some of the signatories of the Declaration of Freedom and Change is a heinous behaviour that contradicts the foundations of democracy and that the odd voices within the forces of Freedom and Change calling for the marginalisation of the SRF are re-producing the national crisis”.

It stressed that the SRF is “the largest alliance among the Sudan Call blocks and the forces of Freedom and Change”, including armed struggle movements and political forces from central Sudan, the far north and eastern Sudan, so attempts to remove them from the transitional arrangements have serious implications for the process of stability and democratic transformation in the country.

In its statement, the SRF stressed its adherence to the Declaration of Freedom and Change and its right to fair representation and its right to follow all available means to achieve this.

The SRF has called in a statement for an urgent meeting of the leadership council of Sudan Call to consider the abuses of some parties of the call.

Paris 2018

As reported by Radio Dabanga in October 2018, less than two months prior to the outbreak of the current uprising, the SRF renewed its commitment to a comprehensive political solution that achieves peace and paves the way for democratic transformation by addressing the roots of the Sudanese crisis.

In a statement issued after the meetings of its Leadership Council that took place in the French capital of Paris from 27 to 29 October, the SRF, currently chaired by Minni Minawi, leader of the SLM-MM, stressed its adherence to the comprehensive political solution and set a package of requirements for the holding of free and fair elections.