Bashir announces partnership with the rebels

The ruling National Congress party in Sudan has called on the Sudanese parties to commit to democracy in the post peace phase. He expressed readiness to boost public freedoms and end the state of emergency.

In conclusion of the general conference of the party in Khartoum, President Bashir called for a full partnership with the rebels (Sudan People Liberation movement) in the rule, the legislative establishments, and auditing in order to secure what will be agreed upon in conclusion of the peace negotiations tours.

Bashir expressed optimism that the current negotiations of talks is the final. He said that preserving the gains will be seen in a voluntarily unity between the north and the south at the end of the provisional period.

For his part, Sudan's (First) Vice-President, Ali Othman Muhammad Taha said that what was achieved of an agreement concerning security arrangements were not a result of weakness nor personal gains, rather a Sudanese initiative aiming at achieving peace and ending 20 years of civil war.

In the same context the chairman of the opposition Umma nation party al-Sadeq al-Mahdi welcomed the call advocated by the ruling party for a mature democracy. But he added that the ruling party should be aligned away from party dominance on the state's establishments, and to move from a state of one party to a real democracy that guarantees everyone the ability to take part in the national decision.

Al-Mahdi called for expanding the partnership from a bilateral relationship of the government and the rebels to become a relationship including all opposition parties.