Sudan News Agency (Khartoum)
21 April 2011
Khartoum — The Umma National Party on Thursday would be taking part in the legislative elections for south Kordufan state, according to its President Sadiq al-Mahdi, however he said the party has reservation with regards to the gubernatorial elections. Al Mahdi told a press conference held at the Umma National Party premises, Thursday, that they have reservations on the run for governor elections, citing inappropriate political climate as one reason, as well as polarization and that he expected the parties to contest the outcome of those governor elections.
Mahadi said they have instead suggested that the elections be postponed so as to provide a better climate while continuing to adhere to the People’s Consultation according to the peace agreement. On the dialogue with the National Congress Party (NCA), Sadiq al-Mahdi said that the joint committee between his party and the National congress has reached agreement on some items and disagreed on others and that the later would be resolved during a meeting of the heads of the two parties. Al Mahdi stressed that his party’s stance in the dialogue with the National Congress was that the Umma party wants to build and come up with an alternative sytem while the national congress wanted to have a broad based participationMahadi commended the dialogue and described it as flexible and positive in the approach between the parties to the points under discussion. He , also praised the security consultation dialogue that deal with the security situation with political parties, reiterating that the party’s political bureau decided to unify the channel for dialogue with the National Congress in order to avoid disturbance.
Al-Mahdi told the presser that the change and the political situation indicated that the public opinion was expecting an agreement between the Sudanese parties to live up to the aspirations of the people and keep pace with standards of democracyHe explained that the Tunisian experience would not apply to the Sudan for the absence of the element of surprise which existed in Tunisia and the professional Egyptian armed forces, which makes the scenario closer to the Libyan and Yemeni oneHe condemned the aggression on eastern Sudan. And about peace in Darfur criticized, Al Mahdi criticized Thabo Mbeki , saying that he began with a promising approach in his first memorandum where he gave up its contents and walked on a nonproductive approach, and entered into a conflicting zone of competing with BassoléHe hailed the Doha peace process albeit reservations he raised against some of the procedures applied therein
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