PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Sudan: Bashir welcomes opposition willingness to sign AU road map
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - President Omar Bashir has welcomed the willingness expressed by his longtime opponents, led by former prime Minister Sadiq Al Mahdi, to sign a road map prepared by the African Union, seeking to place the two sides on a single track to find political solution for their differences over governance, wealth sharing, humanitarian work and peace in the Sudan.
The road map was prepared by the panel headed by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, earlier this year.
The Khartoum government delegation signed the documents but the armed and political opposition refrained at the time to sign it, saying is served the government agenda and did not meet all their demands that included "a priori" specifics such as ceasefire in conflict areas and release of all political detainees.
But both government and Western envoys, as well as Mbeki’s team, argued that this was only a road map setting the specific track to be followed for reaching those ends.
Khartoum media, including the official SUNA news agency, said, Bashir told a meeting that ended in the early hours of Sunday, he was happy the opposition was now willing to sign the document.
He told the General Assembly meeting known as the National Dialogue, that any political detainees “if any at all” would be released before the 10 October, the date on which General National Dialogue Conference would take place.
The October Conference brings together over 70 political parties and armed opposition groups, to Khartoum, to approve over 600 recommendations their representatives prepared in more than five months of deliberations.
While the road map will help the two sides discuss how to end the war and bring in peace and to implement power sharing, the National Dialogue which President Bashir insisted should be convened inside the Sudan, would discuss the root causes behind all Sudanese woes: national identity, freedoms, foreign relations, and economy.
At the end of the Saturday night meeting of the General Assembly of the National Dialogue which he presides over, President Bashir said he has contacted key regional and international personalities, including heads of state, the UN Secretary-General and heads of the African Union, the Arab League and the International Islamic Conference Organization to attend the October meeting and that they have expressed willingness to take part in the general national dialogue conference.
The special envoys of the United States of America, Russia, China and other countries will also take part in the meeting, Bashir said.
President Bashir instructed the National Dialogue coordination committee (7+7 mechanism) and its conciliatory committee to carry out further efforts for reaching consensus on all the recommendations which were previously made by the six committees during meetings that lasted more than five months.
He said such a consensus must be reached before 10 October so that the general conference can pass the recommendations unanimously.
Earlier the National Dialogue Secretariat declared that 98% of the recommendations were approved by the participants.
The Umma National Party, published an open letter in the Sudanese media on Sunday saying he was going to sign the Road map.
-0- PANA MO/MA 7Aug2016
The road map was prepared by the panel headed by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, earlier this year.
The Khartoum government delegation signed the documents but the armed and political opposition refrained at the time to sign it, saying is served the government agenda and did not meet all their demands that included "a priori" specifics such as ceasefire in conflict areas and release of all political detainees.
But both government and Western envoys, as well as Mbeki’s team, argued that this was only a road map setting the specific track to be followed for reaching those ends.
Khartoum media, including the official SUNA news agency, said, Bashir told a meeting that ended in the early hours of Sunday, he was happy the opposition was now willing to sign the document.
He told the General Assembly meeting known as the National Dialogue, that any political detainees “if any at all” would be released before the 10 October, the date on which General National Dialogue Conference would take place.
The October Conference brings together over 70 political parties and armed opposition groups, to Khartoum, to approve over 600 recommendations their representatives prepared in more than five months of deliberations.
While the road map will help the two sides discuss how to end the war and bring in peace and to implement power sharing, the National Dialogue which President Bashir insisted should be convened inside the Sudan, would discuss the root causes behind all Sudanese woes: national identity, freedoms, foreign relations, and economy.
At the end of the Saturday night meeting of the General Assembly of the National Dialogue which he presides over, President Bashir said he has contacted key regional and international personalities, including heads of state, the UN Secretary-General and heads of the African Union, the Arab League and the International Islamic Conference Organization to attend the October meeting and that they have expressed willingness to take part in the general national dialogue conference.
The special envoys of the United States of America, Russia, China and other countries will also take part in the meeting, Bashir said.
President Bashir instructed the National Dialogue coordination committee (7+7 mechanism) and its conciliatory committee to carry out further efforts for reaching consensus on all the recommendations which were previously made by the six committees during meetings that lasted more than five months.
He said such a consensus must be reached before 10 October so that the general conference can pass the recommendations unanimously.
Earlier the National Dialogue Secretariat declared that 98% of the recommendations were approved by the participants.
The Umma National Party, published an open letter in the Sudanese media on Sunday saying he was going to sign the Road map.
-0- PANA MO/MA 7Aug2016
