Letter to Dr. Garang, 14 March 2004

 

Dr. John Garang De Mabior

Chairman SPLM,

C.I.C. SPLA,

 

My dear brother,

Please accept my best wishes to you, to your family, to your colleagues and to the members of the SPLM/A.

We all look forward to seeing all of you amongst us and among the rest of your compatriots in the National Capital of the Sudan to work together to build Just peace and to effect the democratic transformation of the country.

Please accept our congratulations for the Agreements so far reached, and our continuous support for the principles of compromise and mutual concessions, which made them possible. We have expressed reservations on points of detail and shall continue to seek their rectification to balance the compromises and make them better adjusted to prioritize the choice of voluntary unity.

As you know, we have continuously sought to widen the scope of the current negotiations to ensure the participation of all the stake holders. Whatever obstructed that legitimate proposition, we have suggested an alternative stratagem to establish the National ownership of the Peace Agreement. The proposal is to set up a Comprehensive National Council NC and authorize it to ratify the bilateral agreement by a simple majority, and to arbitrate on the points of disagreement between two negotiators by two thirds majority. This mechanism will have the following desirable outcome:

FIRST: It will act as a safety net to prevent disagreement between the two negotiating parties from falling back to the first square.

SECOND: It will promote the bilateral Agreement to National status.

THIRD: IT will bind all the stake holders in the Sudanese body politic to the Peace Agreement, and whatever be the outcome of the general elections, ensure universal compliance.

The NC should be constituted as follows: The political forces represented in the 1986 constituent Assembly, the SPLM/A and other bone fide forces of armed resistance, the non-violent political forces evolved in support and in opposition to the present Regime in the Sudan.

If and when bilateral negotiations fail to iron out certain points, or fail to interpret what was already agreed upon in similar terms, the negotiators will be faced with three alternatives only, namely, to regress to square one, or to accept National or International arbitration.

The proposed National Council NC will provide a mechanism to promote the bilateral accord to become a National Accord, it will broaden the basis of its support, it will protect it from the dangers of unilateral abrogation inherent in bilateral deals, and it will provide the country with an alternative to International arbitration and to a catastrophic set back to conflict.

Finally, I appeal to you to agree with President ALBASHIR to convene a Summit meeting including the two of you and the Presidents of the parties represented in 1986 Constituent Assembly to discuss the formation of the National Council and its powers. This Summit gathering could be held in any venue. We suggest: Cairo, Tripoli, Nairobi or Abuja. This constitutes the real alternative to a position of National paralysis, an unacceptable regression or abdication of National purpose to whom it may concern.

 

With my best regards

 

I am yours faithfully

Al Sadig Al Mahdi

C.T:

– President Omar Hassan ALBASHIR

– General L. Simboyu.

– IGAD countries.

– IPF.