Sudanese president set to kick-start national dialogue between parties

After a meeting with the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, both the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudanese Popular Congress Party (PCP) have agreed to restart national dialogue.

The meeting was held between Al-Bashir and the Secretary General of the PCP, Hassan al-Turabi. This is the first meeting between them since 1999 when Al-Bashir dismissed Al-Turabi from his party.

Both of them have met on several social occasions, but they have never discussed political issues during the meetings.

A source in the ruling party said that Al-Bashir intended to discuss an initiative, launched in January, which called for all opposition parties to come together for a national dialogue.

Al-Bashir also discussed reaching a national agreement which will lead to the writing of a constitution and pave the way for elections set to take place in April next year.

The call was accepted by Al-Turabi’s PCP and Al-Ommah National Party, which is headed by Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi. Together the parties constitute the majority of Al-Bashir’s opposition.

Other parties, including the Communist Party, set conditions to accept Al-Bashir’s call for dialogue. They demanded that all laws restricting freedom be cancelled and a transitional government formed between all parties to write a permanent constitution for the country.