SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Sudan Tribune - Sudan’s DUP pledges to narrow positions over secular state

30/1/2020: Sudan Tribune - Sudan’s DUP pledges to narrow positions over secular state  

Sudan Tribune reports that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani vowed to exert efforts to narrow the gap between the transitional government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu over the issue of secularism.

Talks to end the over eight years conflict in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile states are stalled over SPLM-N al-Hilu’s threats to fight for self-determination unless Sudan adopts secularism.

The DUP, which was part of the ousted al-Bashir regime, and SPLM-N al-Hilu sealed a political alliance supported by the Egyptian government in September 2019. The parties issued a joint statement which expressed commitment to resolving conflicts and the "need to prohibit the establishment of political parties on a religious basis, and the need to respect pluralism and cultural diversity.”