Khartoum – Sudan's First Vice President, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, said the call by the President of the Republic to all the political forces to participate in the constitution making process was a serious and sincere desire to prepare a constitution that strengthens national unity and realizes comprehensive political consensus. The call by the President is a sincere desire to overcome power struggle to unity of the country, he said. 

By launching the initiative for the constitution, the government wants to confirm its conviction that the road to participation and transfer of power is through political dialogue and agreement, Taha said in an interview to the TV yesterday. He added that the Sudanese democratic experience had been unstable due to the absence of security and political consensus on the course of the political process. He called on all the political forces and civil society organizations to take the call of the President seriously.  

 

The FVP said no party or group will be excluded from the constitution making process even if such party or group is calling for a secular constitution. He said neither the National Congress Party (NCP) nor the parties of the national unity government will impose their vision on others on the constitution issue. The dialogue will be open for all the political hues, he said.  

He added that the dialogue on the constitution will be open and the state will take necessary steps to communicate all views across the country and several political measures will also be taken to create an atmosphere conducive to the constitution making process. 

The FVP said Sudan is making serious and sincere efforts to reach a permanent peace and good neighborliness with South Sudan, stating that for the sake of peace Sudan agreed to the separation of a dear part. 

Commenting on the upcoming summit between President Al Bashir and President Kiir, Taha said President Kiir is capable of bringing about a breakthrough on the contentious issues between the two countries and President Al Bashir is also serious to achieve breakthrough at the upcoming summit in Addis Ababa tomorrow Friday. 

He described as positive the withdrawal of South Sudan's forces deployed at the border, stating that this move vindicates Sudan's position that implementation of the security arrangements will pave the way for implementing the remaining parts of the agreement. 

The First Vice President stressed that any dialogue with Northern Sector should be preceded by its disengagement with the SPLA specially division 9 and 10 in South Kordofan and Blue Nile State.  

Mr. Taha revealed that some Sudanese civil society organizations have received funds from American organizations with links with American intelligence services which seek to overthrow regimes. He said this information was mentioned in a book published recently in Washington and local authorities in Khartoum will publish it soon. He said any national organization that operates in accordance with the law and the statute will not be restricted even if its stances and views are inconsistent with that of the government. 

The Vice President attributed the conflicting speeches of government officials to the nature of the Sudanese personality which tends to commend on each and every issue, lack of training and adequate guides that determine parameters of responsibility for every official besides the difficulty of determining an official spokesperson due to the presence of numerous media outlets.

By Al Sammani Awadallah