Tuesday, January 08, 2013

Sudanese Government Cautions Opposition Against Charter With Rebels

Monday 7 January 2013

Sudanese govt. cautions opposition against its charter with rebels

January 6, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudanese parliament criticized the charter signed by the rebel groups and the opposition forces, cautioning that the government "will deal decisively" with the latter in case they resort to arms.

The political forces members of the National Consensus Forces (NCF), some civil society groups representing women and youth signed the "New Dawn Charter" with the rebel groups member of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF).

The Charter recognizes the non-violent action and armed struggle as two means to topple the regime, nonetheless the SRF groups reiterate their support to the peaceful mass action and called their supporters to participate in the peaceful protests against the regime.

The rebel groups which fight against the regime in Blue Nile, Darfur and South Kordofan also committed themselves to declare an immediate cease-fire following the toppling of Khartoum’s regime.

However, in its reactions to the first political agreement between the political and armed forces, the Sudanese officials focused on the use of violence against the regime and warned the opposition that only the political action is allowed in the country.

Samia Ahmed Mohamed, deputy speaker of the National Assembly cautioned the opposition forces against the use of arms saying "If they took up arms we will deal with them decisively."

Ahmed Badr Al-Deen Ibrahim, NCP spokesperson, from his side, said "there is no room to talk about bringing down the regime militarily".

He added that the only way to take the reins of power is the ballot box calling on all the opposition parties and groups to prepare themselves for the upcoming elections in 2014.

He further stressed if they have an alternative to the current regime they have to participate in the elaboration of the constitution because it is the only way to determine the vision of governance in Sudan.

The ruling party invited the opposition parties to participate in a national consultation conference over the new constitution but they NCF forces said before to deal with the fundamental law a national unity government and parliament have to be formed during a transitional period to settle the different crisis.

Samia called on the opposition parties to reconsider their positions and to resort the elections saying it is the "shortest and legitimate way for regime change".

She said that political weight of political forces can only be measured through the ballot box adding they had been already defeated and "sentenced as minority", in a reference to the general election of April 2010 where different political forces boycotted the vote.

The deputy speaker further reiterated Khartoum rejection to form an all-party government to prepare a constitution in a democratic and healthy environment and to end the current political and economic crisis.

(ST)

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