Sudanese official blasts Juba meeting for opposition parties

 (KHARTOUM) — A proposed meeting for several major opposition parties in South Sudan capital of Juba aims at impeding democratic transformation, an adviser to Sudanese president said today.
In late May the ex-Southern rebel group Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) has invited more than a dozen opposition parties for a conference in Juba.
An alliance of the opposition parties held a meeting with the presence of representatives from the Umma National Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Umma Reform and Renewal Party, Sudanese Communist Party, Popular Congress Part (PCP), and other smaller parties.
The parties lashed out at the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) for exercising hegemony over wealth and power as well as refusing to amend repressive laws.
The presidential adviser Abdullah Masar told the government sponsored Sudanese media Center (SMC) website that the Juba meeting is one aimed at excluding all non-participants.
Masar accused Mubarak Al-Fadil, the leader of the Umma Reform and Renewal party (URRP), of standing behind the meeting “for political gains away from the interests of the country”.
He called on SPLM chairman to “be well aware” of what Al-Fadil is planning saying the latter has an agenda aimed at distancing the Southern movement from its allies in the government of national unity.
“The conference sends negative signals that will primarily impact the Comprehensive Agreement,” Masar said.
Masar and Al-Fadil both defected from the mainstream Umma party led by former Sudanese Prime Minister Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi and joined the government.
However following the removal of Al-Fadil from his post as adviser to the Sudanese president, both men fell out after Masar refused to leave the government per his boss’s request.
Masar justified his position saying that Al-Fadil was sacked due his actions as presidential assistant and not in his capacity as head of URRP, which he said, did not warrant party members to leave the government.
This year Masar formed a new party under the name Umma National Party and will run in the upcoming 2010 elections.
(ST)