Khartoum accepts Libyan-Egyptian peace initiative

The government of Sudan on Wednesday announced that it had fully accepted all the points of a joint Libyan-Egyptian memorandum, which has not been made public, on their peace initiative for Sudan. At a press conference in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Foreign Minister Mustafa Uthman Isma’il urged the two countries to take all the necessary measures to implement the initiative, Sudanese television reported. The leadership of the ruling National Congress (NC) party, including its chairman, President Umar Hasan al-Bashir, had approved the memorandum at a special meeting on Tuesday night, the official SUNA news agency reported. NC Secretary-General Ibrahim Ahmad Umar called on all Sudanese political forces to accept the Libyan-Egyptian paper, it added.

It had previously been reported that the government of Sudan was opposed to a Libyan-Egyptian proposal to have a transitional government of all political parties to undertake implementation of the agreement, hold a national conference for revision of the constitution and organise general elections. Although the Libyan-Egyptian memorandum was not publicly released, Sudanese media reported that it included principles insisting on Sudanese national unity; recognition of ethnic, religious and cultural diversity within the country; the need to introduce a pluralist democracy; the guarantee of basic freedoms and human rights; citizenship as a basis for rights and duties; the need for a decentralised rule of law; and the pursuit of a foreign policy that guaranteed national interests while respecting good neighbourliness. The memorandum also provided for an undertaking by all parties on an urgent cessation of violence under military observation, they added.

The opposition umbrella National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is reported to have accepted the memorandum in principle, but to have some reservations about a perceived bias by the Libyan-Egyptian mediators towards the Sudanese government. The NDA chairman and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani, called for the integration of the Libyan-Egyptian peace initiative with that of IGAD (the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development) “so that the Sudanese issue does not become an Arab versus African issue”, according to the Sudanese ‘Al-Ra’y al-Amm’. Mirghani also accused the government of trying to assimilate the opposition into its institutions as part of its efforts to retain power, it added.

Meanwhile, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) official Mansur Khalid said his movement did not oppose the formation of a transitional government which included members of the other opposition parties and the ruling party, “provided prior agreement is reached on setting the duration of the transition phase, amending the constitution, revoking the emergency laws and the single-party state, and preparing for new legislative elections,” according to the British-based Sudanese newspaper ‘Al-Zaman’.

The Libyan-Egyptian initiative differed from that of IGAD in including all the Sudanese parties to the conflict, including northern opposition forces, rather than just the government and southern-based SPLM/A, according to regional analysts. It also insisted on the unity, or indivisibility, of Sudan, as opposed to the IGAD principles, previously accepted by the Sudanese government, which included the right of self-determination - and therefore at least the possibility of secession - of the south, they said.