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Soudan : Medani Resistance Committees turn down UNITAMS’ Meeting Invitation

D 31 janvier 2022     H 12:00     A     C 0 messages


The Medani Resistance Committees (MRCs), an umbrella body of neighborhood resistance committees in the Gezira State, issued a statement on Wednesday 26 January setting out their position on a recent invitation to a meeting with the UNITAMS office in Khartoum.

The invitation is believed to be part of consultations with Sudanese stakeholders under a UN-sponsored initiative for clearing the impasse caused by the 25th of October coup d’etat, which effectively derailed Sudan’s transition to democracy and civilian rule. Although the initiative clearly had the backing and blessing of the Troika, the EU, the African Union, some other regional players and obviously the local forces that backed the coup, it has so far failed to make any progress on the ground. It was immediately met with strong opposition from the revolutionary forces, namely the Forces of Freedom and Change alliance and the neighborhood resistance committees, the driving force behind the bold street protests that have continued to rage across the capital and other cities despite escalating cycles of violence.

UNITAMS’ reach out to the resistance committees is seen as an attempt to break that impasse. However, the MRCs statement leaves little doubt that UNITAMS still has a long way to go before clearing the deadlock.

It reiterated MRCs’ stance as set out in their recently published political declaration, which echoed *"the three Nos"* : No to negotiation, no to partnership, and no to endorsement of the legitimacy of the military coup.

Furthermore, MRCs sounded adamant on closing the door on foreign involvement. "It is our firm belief that any resolution to the Sudanese crisis must be accomplished by the Sudanese peoples themselves. We are committed to restoring the ownership of the crucial decision-making process to the people of the Sudan."

It went further to criticize the international community’s response to the current developments in Sudan. "So far, the international community has clearly supported the political forces behind the military coup through the agency of the European Union and the United Nations entities, including the UNITAM mission. These foreign entities are now exerting tremendous efforts to pave the road for the coup junta to tighten their military and security grip, while their resort to brutal power continues to claim the lives of the Sudanese revolutionaries, and to escalate their suppression of the Sudanese people and confiscate their right to peaceful expression of their refusal to succumb to the military dictatorship," the statement said.

"The position of the MRCs is made quite clear in our proposed Political Declaration. We have no intention of adopting a new or a different position to be discussed in meetings with any local or foreign entity. We are only open to meeting with the grassroot members in Medani and the other resistance committees within al-Gazira state and other states to arrive at a unified political declaration, which will enable our people to oust the coup leaders and find a permanent solution to our perpetuated political crises," it added.

Concluding their statement, MRCS said : "For all the aforementioned reasons, the MRCs cannot accept the invitation for meeting with the UNITAMS mission. We call upon all resistance committees all over the country to beware of internal splits that might arise from the divisive tactics of such entities, which would threaten our revolutionary action at this crucial moment of the great December Revolution. "