January 18, 2023 (KHARTOUM) – The Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) officially rejected an invitation by the Egyptian intelligence agency for a workshop to be held in Cairo in early February, describing it as a platform for the “counter-revolutionary forces.”
In a meeting on January 2 with the leaders of the pro-democracy coalition, Abbas Kamel Chief of Egyptian Intelligence proposed to hold a meeting in Cairo between them and the non-signatory Democratic Bloc which includes a pro-Egyptian faction of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
At that meeting, the FFC group declined the invitation and called on Cairo to convince the holdout groups to join them. But the Bloc welcomed the uninspired support and expressed readiness to participate in the Egyptian forum.
On January 10, the Egyptian ambassador to Khartoum, however, met with the head of the Sovereign Council to discuss again their proposal saying it aims to enhance the unity and stability of Sudan. Also, he met with Hadi Idris a member of the Sovereign Council and leader of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) in a bid to convince him to rally the initiative.
The days after, the Egyptian council sent invitations to the FFC groups including the SRF as well as the signatories of the framework agreement to take part in the Egyptian initiative which comes in parallel to the efforts of the Trilateral Mechanism supported by the QUAD, European Union and Troika groups.
In a statement released on January 18, the FFC declined again the Egyptian move, stressing that “The framework agreement laid a good basis for a process led and owned by the Sudanese.” Also, they added that the initiative is outdated.
“The planned workshop constitutes a platform for counter-revolutionary forces, in which they hope to undermine Sudanese popular efforts to restore the civil democratic process.,” further stressed the statement.
An Egyptian researcher, Amani Al-Taweel recently said that the Egyptian move aims to ensure the participation of a DUP faction led by Gaffer al-Mirhgani.
His brother Alhassan leads another faction participating in the political process. Nonetheless, rumours in Khartoum say that Cairo trusts only Gaffer who served as a presidential assistant to the ousted Omer al-Bashir.
(ST)
