The Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) has welcomed the launch of a national dialogue facilitated by the United Nations (UN) and the African Union (AU) next week, reported Middle East Monitor.
The dialogue has been brokered by a tripartite mechanism of the UN, AU, and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, an eight-country trade bloc in Eastern Africa. It is aimed at paving way for a political process that would bring all actors back to a democratic constitutional situation for the transitional period. The dialogue will involve all the political forces who will discuss governance, constitution-making, and elections.
“We welcome the planned launch of a dialogue between Sudanese parties,” senior SFR official Khaled Shawish told the state news agency SUNA.
He said the group members have met with the UN and AU representatives and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) regarding the planned dialogue.
Shawish said several steps including calls by the dialogue sponsors for lifting the state of emergency, the release of political prisoners, and removing the freedom-restricting laws provide a suitable atmosphere for the dialogue.
The SFR is an alliance of political and armed groups formed in 2011 to oppose former President Omar al-Bashir’s regime.
Sudanese military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the military staged a coup on October 25, ending a two-year power-sharing arrangement with a civilian political coalition following the ouster of Omar al-Bashir. Bashir was ousted by the Sudanese army in April 2019 after being in power for three decades following months of mass protests against his rule.
The military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency.
Prior to the military takeover, Sudan was governed by a sovereign council of military and civilian officials tasked with overseeing the transition period until elections in 2023.
Burhan had previously said that the military would only hand over power to an elected government. He continues to call for political parties to come to a consensus.
