June 23, 2012 (KHARTOUM) — The rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement –North (SPLM-N) hailed the recent developments in the protests of the Sudanese people and stated its readiness to declare a l ceasefire after the fall of Bashir’s regime.
The SPLM-N leader Malik Agar issued Saturday a statement welcoming what he termed as “qualitative shift” as the protests against the regime since Friday involve not only students but people from the different segment of the society.
The students started on Saturday 16 June to demonstrate in the University of Khartoum against a package of austerity measures the government was preparing to scrap oil subsidies while the country is already hit by a severe economic crisis.
Agar said his rebel movement was following closely the recent developments in the country. He further added that the leadership including Abdel Aziz Hilu and Yasir Arman was consulting with its allied rebel groups, some political parties and civil society organizations.
After expressing the support of the rebel group to the ongoing demonstrations in the country, he announced SPLM-N’s “willingness to proclaim a strategic ceasefire on all the military fronts after the fall of the regime to create a conducive environment for peaceful transition of power.”
The rebel leader stressed that this measure means to avoid the repetitionof the experience of April 1985 Uprising when the SPLM refused to join a national transitional government during the interim period.
Malik underlined in his statement that all the parties should participate in the interim government in order to create a needed national consensus to achieve the transition from totalitarianism to democracy and from the war to peace.
The issue of the rebel groups was seen as one of the obstacles preventing Sudanese from overthrowing the regime. People were thinking that rebels will enter the capital during the revolution to fight the regime.
Sadiq Al-Mahdi, leader of Umma National Party , was reluctant to accept the idea of popular revolution saying that the regime will fight the unrest militarily and this will incite the intervention of rebel groups.
Agar said the uprising must maintain its peaceful character, stressing that the participation of millions of Sudanese is the only guarantee to prevent the intervention of regime’s militias.
He however said the army of the SPLM-N and the Sudan Revolutionary Front will stand by the Sudanese people to ensure the pacific nature of the revolution and protect it.
The rebel leader called on the SPLM-N members inside the country to participate peacefully in the uprising and to mobilise the support of the international community.
Khartoum did not yet react to the rebel statements.
The SPLM-N refuses to accept a ceasefire the Sudanese government demands before to allow humanitarian access to the rebel held areas in the Nuba Mountains.
