Yasser Arman, Secretary General of the SPLM-N rebels said Sudan’s opposition political parties will never participate in the national constitutional dialogue if the April elections are conducted.
Arman, who is also the Foreign Relations Secretary of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) pointed out that the conduct of the upcoming elections would represent an end to the recently signed Berlin Declaration, which committed the parties to a preparatory meeting on participating in the National Dialogue process.
The Berlin Declaration came at the conclusion of a conference held in Germany last week by the SRF, the National Umma Party, the National Consensus Forces coalition, and the Civil Society Initiative, in which the signatories clarified their position on the National Dialogue process.
The opposition group is prepared to discuss terms and conditions of the National Dialogue with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in a preliminary dialogue.
Arman said in a press statement to El Taghyeer website that their declaration would expire on 13 July 2015, in case President Omar Al Bashir extends his term in office. The leading SPLM-North member considered the national constitutional dialogue initiated by the Sudan Appeal signatories as “a last chance dialogue”.
He stressed that the preparatory meeting that will be held in Addis Ababa aims at stopping the elections plan. “There will be no meeting if the elections are conducted and the opposition will totally work to overthrow the government through a peaceful popular uprising,” he said.