Sudan's opposition alliance said in remarks published Thursday it will boycott a meeting with the government aimed at paving the way to end the country's 17-year civil war.
The meeting, called by President Omar al-Beshir last month and scheduled for August 7th-14th, was designed to prepare for a wider national dialogue conference grouping the opposition and all Sudanese political forces.
A senior official of the internal opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Ali Mahmoud Hassanain, said they would abide by a decision by the Cairo-based external branch of the group not to take part in the Khartoum meeting, Al-Rai Al-Akher daily said.
"We are not concerned with the meeting which is only aimed at rallying the government supporters and the NDA has nothing to do with it," said Hassanain, who is also a senior official of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
But the Umma Party, which is still a member of the internal NDA despite withdrawing from the external NDA, has said it is willing to take part with "reservations" on the timing and preparations for the gathering.
Apart from Umma, which signed peace accords with Khartoum last November, only the registered political parties loyal to the government, which number about 15, have shown willingness to join the preparatory meeting.
The recently formed People's or Popular National Congress (PNC) created last month by Hassan al-Turabi has announced it will not take part - KHARTOUM (AFP)
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