Al-Mahdi Calls to Avoid Excluding Coup Supporters from Sudan’s Political Process

Mariam al-Mahdi

December 16, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – The Deputy Chairman of the National Umma Party (NUP), Maryam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi stressed the need to involve the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) in the political framework agreement, despite the support of the two armed groups to the October 25 coup.

On December 13, NUP head, Burma Nassir, and his deputy, Maryam al-Mahdi, met with the Democratic Bloc leadership to discuss ways to join the framework agreement stroke with the military component to restore a civilian transition in Sudan.

In a talk show “Al-Mukhtasar” broadcast on social media on December 15, al-Mahdi expressed her understanding of the street’s anger at attempts to associate in the political process with former rebel groups that supported the military coup.

She said that their support for the coup should not be a justification for their exclusion, since they are signatories to the Juba Peace Agreement and committed to the pact that ended the war in the country.

The NUP deputy leader added that they are part of a “binding agreement” for all the parties, so there must be accountability without exclusion and counter-exclusion.

“Therefore, the Umma Party took the initiative to open a dialogue with these brothers after the stalemate that lasted for a while before the signing of the framework agreement; so that they could participate in the second phase of the political process and discuss the five sticky issues,” she emphasized.

The two holdout groups are calling for opening the framework agreement for negotiation and amending it, based on their initiative calling for preserving the 2019 constitutional declaration which guarantees their participation in the transitional government. In addition, they call to involve their allies of the Democratic Bloc in the political process.

However, the signatories to the framework agreement reject both requests.

Also, Maryam revealed a prior agreement to limit the process to the civilian components led by the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), the military component, the JEM and SLM-Minni Minnawi as well as some political groups that rejected the coup d’etat.

In a tweet posted after the meeting, Minnawi mentioned they had agreed with the Umma Party to form two committees to reconcile the positions of the two blocs.

The framework agreement postponed discussion on five issues including justice and transitional justice, reform of the security system, review of the Juba Peace Agreement, dismantlement of the al-Bashir regime, and eastern Sudan plight; for the second stage of the process to ensure broader participation.

In a related development, al-Mahdi announced that they had started to prepare a program for the next transitional government.

“It is very important that a program be ready for implementation by the upcoming civilian transitional government as soon as it is appointed. It should be a practical and realistic program, benefiting from the experience of the first transitional period,” she stressed.

Former Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok blamed the FFC for not having a government program to implement after his appointment.

(ST)