The Sudanese opposition coalition agreed to meet with the military component, in response to a demand by the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Molly Phee, and Saudi Ambassador to Sudan Ali bin Hassan bin Jafar.
According to a statement issued by the Alliance of Forces of Freedom and Change, the meeting would address ending the army’s measures put in effect on Oct. 25 - which the opposition considers a military coup – and handing over power to civilians.
On Wednesday, Khartoum saw a preliminary round of negotiations, led by the tripartite mechanism consisting of the United Nations Mission to Support the Transition in Sudan (UNTAMS), the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Africa (IGAD), to put an end to political tension and the constitutional vacuum in the country.
However, most of the main political parties refused to attend the meeting.
In a previous statement, the coalition described the round of negotiations as “an internal dialogue between coup forces that share the same project,” adding that it was similar to the talks launched by ousted President Omar al-Bashir in 2014 and boycotted by all opposition forces.
The coalition affirmed that it had dealt positively with the tripartite mechanism since its launch of the political process, but that it was betting on its approach to help the Sudanese people achieve a democratic transition led by a full civil authority that expresses “the revolution and its goals.”
