‘Opposition will not bend to pressure to sign AUHIP roadmap’: Agar

The opposition forces that participated in the consultative meeting with the Sudanese government in Addis Ababa last week will not sign the roadmap document presented by the AU mediation team, regardless of any pressure.

The AU High-level Implementation Panel (AUHIP) invited the Sudanese government and the holdout rebel movements and the National Umma Party (NUP) to Addis Ababa on 18 March, in an attempt to break the impasse on the peace negotiations on Darfur and the Two Areas (South Kordofan and Blue Nile) and the opposition’s participation in the National Dialogue.

On the second day of the “strategic consultative meeting”, Chief Mediator Thabo Mbeki presented the warring parties the text of a roadmap regarding the accords to be agreed on to achieve peace in the country and the participation in the Dialogue. The government delegation and Mbeki signed the document. The opposition groups refused, accusing the AU mediator of siding with Khartoum.

In his first comment on Mbeki’s pressuring the allied opposition to sign the roadmap, Malik Agar, the head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) stressed that they will not sign the document, “regardless of the pressures exerted”.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Agar said that “our ultimate goal is peace in Sudan – which this document will not achieve”.

He called for all Sudanese opposition forces “to unite in accordance with the National Dialogue roadmap for the coordination of the peace negotiations process, agreed upon by everyone, and that will definitely lead to the cessation of hostilities”.

The rebel leader said that the SPLM-N will soon organise a meeting “with all the opposition groups, to discuss the restructuring of the opposition strategies in order to reach our goals”.

In a statement on Thursday, AU Commission Chairwoman Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma gave the Sudanese opposition less than a week to sign the roadmap.