Khartoum- Al-Yurae- While the mechanism did not announce the reasons for the failure of the start of the meeting yesterday, UNITAMS spokesman Fadi al-Qadi said that the talks announced by the tripartite mechanism will be held this week, stressing in a press circular that he has no information about its exact time.
The complexities of the country’s current political landscape, the lack of commitment of the military authorities to create a climate for dialogue, as well as their continued efforts to form civilian blocs loyal to it, prevented the preparatory meeting, which was rejected by a number of opposition parties and conditioned by other parties, according to local press reports.
The coordination of the resistance committees and the Sudanese professionals’ grouping refused to engage in dialogue with the military, within the framework of the tripartite mechanism or otherwise, while the Central Council for Freedom and Change set conditions for participation in the political process.
Measures to create a climate for the political process announced by the Central Council include the abolition of the state of emergency, the release of all detainees and the cessation of violence, with a commitment to protect civilians and enable the mass movement to participate in the political process in a free and peaceful climate.
The Forces for Freedom and Change stressed the need to hold those involved in the crimes of suppressing demonstrations accountable and brought to justice.
It said it begun to prepare a vision for the political process required to end the coup in order to reject earlier the perception presented by the mechanism that involved civilian groups loyal to the coup and the former regime in the political process, stressing that any political process should lead to an end to the October 25 coup.
At a time when the tripartite mechanism appears to be facing challenges that have stalled the preparatory meeting, Washington has renewed its support for the mechanism’s efforts to facilitate a political process to restore civilians to lead Sudan’s democratic transition.
In a statement yesterday, said THE US welcomed the continuity and progress made so far, as the process progressed and facilitators began talks with stakeholders on the substance of the solution, stressing her conviction that the tripartite mechanism was best able to achieve an appropriate agreement on civilian-led transition demands.
Washington urged all Sudanese civilian and military parties to use this process to achieve democratic progress and national stability.
In telephone calls with Sudanese civilian and military leaders, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Fi welcomed the release of political detainees in the past few weeks, while pressing for the full implementation of confidence-building measures promised by the Sudanese army, including the lifting of the state of emergency and the release of the remaining political detainees.
The US stressed the need for all stakeholders to participate constructively in the facilitating process of the mechanism and to make rapid progress in this regard, stressing the need for the army to transfer power to a civilian government formed under this framework to resume international financial support and development assistance.
In addition to the challenges related to the positions of the Sudanese parties on the political process, the Mechanism faces challenges related to the rejection of the components of the mechanism by groups loyal to the Sudanese parties, where pro-military and former regime groups have demonstrated several times in front of UNITAMS buildings demanding the expulsion of the Head of Mission Volker Peretz.
In addition, some parties opposed to the coup reject AFRICAN Union envoy Mohamed Ould Labat, as one of the makers of the previous military-civilian agreement that later collapsed after the military coup, which they consider pro-military and demand its change.
Last month, the Sudanese authorities made moves in the Security Council to define UNITAMS functions, including political action.
In addition, local press reports indicated a divergence of views between United Nations and African Union envoys on the form and content of the political process required to end the Sudanese crisis.
Nevertheless, the mechanism continued to jointly confirm its work to support the Sudanese in finding a way out of the current crisis resulting from the October 25 military coup, facilitating a return to constitutional status and a transitional path towards civil rule, democracy and peace in Sudan.
In earlier statements, UNITAMS President Volker Peretz said that the mechanism was not imposing any solution on the Sudanese, but to facilitate the process of reaching a Sudanese solution. He noted that the results of previous consultations had shown many areas of consensus and convergence and showed that a solution was possible if there was political will.
“We don’t have much time, at a time when the country has been experiencing economic, social and security deterioration over the past months,” he said.
He reiterated the commitment of the United Nations to cooperate with its african Union and IGAD facilitator partners to help the Sudanese parties reach a solution that would return the country to a real transitional path that would end with free elections and democratic civil rule that fulfilled the aspirations of the Sudanese people.
No solution or bargaining between elites can be sustained without the participation and acceptance of young people, women and resistance committees, according to Peretz, who believes that what is needed at present is an uncomplicated solution, suitable for the inherently limited transition.
At a time when a wide range of forces are working against the coup, most notably the resistance committees on what they called the establishment of a new phase of people’s authority to discuss all Sudanese issues, the joint mediation mechanism says that the next stage is not enough to focus on all outstanding issues, but on issues of getting out of the crisis, noting that other issues should be discussed at another stage for a Sudanese dialogue on important structural questions such as the constitution, the distribution of resources and the relationship between the center and the margin.
The dialogue is expected to face many complications under the tripartite mechanism’s approach, in terms of opening the door to the participation of political forces that were involving the regime of ousted President Omar al-Bashir until its fall on April 11, which is rejected by the revolutionary forces, not just freedom and change.
In addition, the need to achieve the requirements for holding the dialogue before setting its date, announced by Freedom and Change and a number of revolutionary forces, includes the abolition of the state of emergency, the release of detainees and the cessation of violence and repression of demonstrations against the coup.
There are those who believe that the entry of the African Union into the political process, of which UNITAMS led the first phase, held the mediation work and derailed it, pointing out that the African Union envoy is unacceptable to some revolutionary forces, which consider that he has worked to attach parties unrelated to the dialogue, amid fears of flooding the political process and drifting away from the main objective of the dialogue, namely, the departure of the military from the scene and the handing over of power to civilians.
Many agree, referring to the following results of the speedy joint mechanism in setting the date of the preparatory meeting,
Some also point out that so far the military has not made any prior concessions under which dialogue will take place and that there should be agreement in the form of future military civil relations, in addition to determining the tasks of the transitional period and linking it to a not-long period of time after which an election date will be set.
