From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Oct 06 2009 - 07:07:15 EDT
SPLM Dismisses Bashir's Dialogue Call
By Peter Clottey
06 October 2009
Sudan's People Liberation Movement (SPLM) has dismissed as a ploy President
Omar Hassan Bashir's call for dialogue.
The President called for dialogue Monday in parliament to prevent violence
in the April 2010 general election.
But the SPLM accused President Bashir and his National Congress Party of
attempting to re-negotiate the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA).
As part of the CPA, Sudan will hold presidential, parliamentary and local
elections next year, its first general vote since 1986.
Yasser Arman, the deputy general secretary of the SPLM said that President
Bashir needs to act rather than make promises.
"Usually, we welcome a call for dialogue. It is not the first call, but we
don't need to renegotiate the agreement. We already signed agreement with
the National Congress; we have had the schedule (and) we need them to
implement the agreement," Arman said.
He said deeds not words are what the SPLM expects from the NCP.
"Whatever they are saying, what matters for us is the action more than the
words," he said.
President Bashir said Monday that it was important to have an election
without violence claiming that "there is need for dialogue to reach a
positive climate to hold elections," Bashir said.
But Arman said embracing the true tenets of democracy is the only way to
prevent violence in next year's election.
"If you want to avoid violence in the elections, you have to resort to
democracy and democratization. And in Sudan, after four years of the
agreement, we did not pass the necessary laws, the penal code and other
important law for democratization freedom for fair elections," Arman said.
He said there should also be reconciliation ahead of the election.
"If we do not want the experiences like Zimbabwe or Iran, we need to really
go for democracy, for reconciliation between our people to resolve the
Darfur crisis. That is what is needed in order to avoid violence," he said.
Political observers believe the opposition's threat to boycotting next
year's general election prompted President Bashir's call for dialogue.
Arman said the meeting of opposition parties was to critically examine their
options available ahead of the election.
"We had wanted them to come together with other political forces so that we
level the ground to have a healthy environment for elections," Arman said.
He said the Southern Sudanese government is not against next year's vote.
"As the SPLM, we are for the elections and we see the election as one of the
fundamental articles of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.but the National
Congress wants an election
in a totalitarian system. Keeping the old system and this will not take us
to a free and fair election," he said.
Arman said Juba is frustrated with the lack of political will from its
northern partners in the implementation of the CPA.
"We are satisfied with the U.S intervention, but we are not satisfied with
the results because the National Congress is buying time. They are not
implementing what we agreed (to) and they want to re-negotiate the
agreement," Arman said.
The SPLM has often accused the NCP of failing to fully implement the 2005
Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended Sudan's over two decade civil war
between the North and South.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----