A delegation of Sudanese opposition parties arrived yesterday to Juba, the capital of South Sudan, comprised of leading members of the Islamist Popular Congress Party (PCP), the Sudanese Communist Party, the National Umma party, and the Arab Ba’ath Party.

The delegation represented a loose coalition known as the National Consensus Forces. Specifically, it was led by Kamal Omar (PCP), Yusuf Sadig (Communist), Abdel Jalil Al Basha (Umma) and Fathi Nouri (Ba’ath).

Immediately upon arrival, the delegation held a press conference at the lounge of the Juba International Airport. Dr. Kamal Omar, the head of the delegation, announced that the purpose of their visit was to bring condolences on the death of the late paramount chief Kuol Deng Kuol.

He described the assassination of the Abyei chief as a big tragedy. They stressed their solidarity with citizens of Abyei in order to investigate and find out the culprits and bring them to book.

“We as the in the members of the coalition and as the opposition parties of northern Sudan condemned the incident and we want to extend our condolences to President Salva Kiir. The assassination of the paramount chief is not a joke, it’s a serious issue. We in the coalition are holding the Khartoum government responsible for that criminal act. We want to assure you that we are in solidarity with the government of South Sudan as well as the people of Abyei,” Kamal said.

Sadiq Yusuf, for his part, held the Khartoum government responsible for the bloodshed in Abyei, saying the problems of Sudan can’t be solved except by bringing down the Khartoum regime.

He stressed that building a truly democratic state would pave the way to restore the unity of the country once again and he called on everyone to show restraint and stop hostilities.

“We don’t think that problems can be settled in the presence of the current Sudanese ruling regime. We need a democratic government that paves the way for peaceful co-existence between the two nations,” Al-Sadig stressed.

Also Abdel-Jalil pointed to the historic ties between the two peoples, which compelled them to come to Juba and extend their condolences to the people of South Sudan.

In response to a question on the current exchange of accusations between Juba and Khartoum, especially after the recent battles of the Sudan Revolutionary Front at Umm Ruwaba and Abu Karshola, Kamal responded that Sudan’s accusations are not surprising and that the Sudan government is blame its failure on the South Sudan government.

Photo: Abdel-Jalail Al Basha (left), Kamal Omar (center), Sadig Yusif (right) (Radio Tamazuj)