Al Bashir to chair Sudan’s National Dialogue

The National Dialogue Committee on Saturday officially announced its roadmap. The Committee has identified 50 “prominent national figures” to participate in the dialogue. It selected President Omar Al Bashir to chair the dialogue. Assistant to the President, Dr Ibrahim Ghandour, stressed at a press conference held at the Friendship Hall on Saturday that the National Dialogue will “definitely start, and will not wait for anyone”. “The dialogue will be convened in Khartoum, and will not wait for any signatories from abroad”, Ghandour said, referring to the Paris Declaration signed between the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF, an alliance of the main rebel movements) and the National Umma Party.  The National Dialogue Committee, known as 7+7, consists of seven government and seven opposition parties. The roadmap, endorsed by the Committee, does not include an agreement on the 2015 elections. The Committee was divided on the issue, and referred it to the National Dialogue conference that will take place within the next two days. OppositionThe National Consensus Forces (NCF, a coalition of opposition parties) reiterated their rejection of the Dialogue, initiated by the ruling National Congress Party, saying they are “not involved in the Dialogue, nor concerned with its outputs”.Siddig Yousif, the spokesman for the NCF told Radio Dabanga from Khartoum that “before talking about any national dialogue, the Sudanese must agree on the termination and dismantling of the one-party regime in Khartoum”.“We should agree on the stoppage of the civil wars, the delivery of humanitarian assistance, compensation for those affected by the wars, the realisation of freedoms, and the abolition of all laws contrary to the Constitution, before starting any dialogue at all.” Yousif described the dialogue announced by the NCP as a “debate on the distribution of rewards”. “It is a dialogue between the government and its supporters, belonging to parties that that were originally part of the government.” “What is new is the entry of the Popular Congress Party, led by Hassan El Turabi, into the National Dialogue’s 7+7 committee, on the pretext of Islamic unity, or unity with the NCP.” File photo: President Omar Al Bashir Related: ‘Sudan’s regime should accept Paris Declaration’: El Mahdi (11 August 2014) Sudan opposition demands freedoms in National Dialogue meeting (12 July 2014)Rebel SRF road map ‘towards National Dialogue Sudan’ (25 April 2014)