The spokesman for Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) is denying reports that the party has agreed to accept results of last week’s general elections.
Yien Matthew Chol said the SPLM only agreed to continue dialogue with incumbent President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP).
“It is not very true that the two parties had reached an agreement. The chairman of the SPLM simply met Ali Osman Mohammed on the current political issues and situations. The two parties had only agreed to continue dialoguing on the issues,” he said.
Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha reportedly announced at a news conference Tuesday that the NCP had reached an agreement with the SPLM to accept the results of the general elections after holding discussions with Salva Kiir, leader of the semi-autonomous southern Sudan.
But Chol said the agreement was not about the vote.
“The SPLM sees that the results have not been promulgated and that it is too early to discuss any issues pertaining to government and that these issues can be simply discussed into two parties meetings. The SPLM currently is while awaiting the situation, the elections (results) the implementation of the peace agreement, Darfur and the issues of democratic transformation,” Chol said.
The SPLM has often accused President Bashir’s ruling NCP of refusing to fully implement the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) -- a charge the NCP denies.
Sudan’s general elections, the first in 24years forms part of the peace accord that ended decades of civil war between the north and the south.
Chol said the SPLM wants a full implementation of the peace accord.
“The dialogue will not eminently reopen the agreement, but to dialogue on the possibility of implementing the outstanding issues; the issues of demarcation of borders, the issues of the elections themselves whether they were rigged or not. These are all outstanding issues and so many other issues to be discussed by the two parties,” Chol said.
International poll observers concluded in their preliminary reports that Sudan’s general elections failed to meet international standards.
But shortly after meeting President Bashir, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Representative for Sudan, Haile Menkerios, said the elections were an important benchmark in the implementation of the CPA.
The United Nations played a pivotal role in the elections by providing technical and logistical assistance to the Sudan National Electoral Commission.
