SPOTLIGHT Mbeki’s Sudan solution
AMENDMENT: ROAD MAP AGREEMENT OUT OF DATE AND NEEDS REVISIT
Opposition coalition party should be involved in formation of new constitution.
Thabo Mbeki, head of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) for Sudan, has suggested an amendment to the Road Map Agreement (RMA) that was signed between the Sudanese government and the opposition coalition Sudan Call party.
The RMA was signed two-anda-half years ago.
Mbeki argues that conditions have changed since the signing of the RMA and the AUHIP’s suggestion is that Sudan Call should be involved in the formation of a new constitution and take part in the upcoming elections of 2020, the Sudan Tribune reported.
In a letter Mbeki sent to the chairperson of the Sudan Call party, Sadiq Al Mahdi, on September 25, the former South African president said “it is inevitable that the signatories to the RMA will have to consider and agree to an amended RMA, while maintaining the central goal of reconstructing Sudan through a constitution negotiated and agreed through an inclusive process”.
Mbeki further suggested that the opposition parties show more flexibility as there would be no new national dialogue conference. He proposed that RMA signatories agree on a cessation of hostilities and a humanitarian access deal.
In 2016, the agreement between Khartoum and the opposition alliance provided a roadmap for peace in Sudan providing that the warring parties end the war, negotiate peace and that the opposition return to the country to take part in a national dialogue process and a constitutional conference.
However, the parties failed to strike a cessation of hostilities deal and a humanitarian access agreement in Darfur and the Two Areas for different reasons.
As a result, the government held its national dialogue conference and formed a national consensus government to implement its recommendations. – ANA
It is inevitable that the signatories to the RMA will have to consider and agree to an amended RMA while maintaining the central goal of reconstructing Sudan.
Thabo Mbeki AUHIP head