Mustafa Osman Ismail, Sudan’s Minister of Commerce and Investment, has predicted that a major split will eventually hit Sudan because of what he termed “controversy over identity.”

Speaking during the Seventh Conference of the Sudanese Association for Political Science at the Ministry of Higher Education on Monday, Ismail said the split will be worse than what happened to neighbouring South Sudan due to the controversy over identity, which is seen as the main problem facing members engaged in the ongoing National Dialogue in Khartoum.

For his part, the chairman of the Identity Committee at the National Dialogue, Professor Osman Mohammed Saleh admitted that there was a fuss on the issue of identity within the committee, saying the issue of identity is complicated.

Some participants at National Dialogue have expressed fears that the outcomes of the process might eventually lead to unity among Islamists instead of the expected results from the dialogue.

Saad-Eddin Mohammed Al-Tayib, the head of the youth organization for dialogue and peace and a participant at the National Dialogue, said the participants in the National Dialogue fear that the dialogue will ultimately lead to the unity of the Islamists.

The two main parties participating in the process are the Popular Congress and the National Congress, which both ascribe to Islamist political philosophy.

Meanwhile, Al-Tayib Zein Al Abdin, professor of political science at the University of Khartoum and himself a member of the Islamic movement, said the low turnout at the meeting held in Khartoum and the position taken by local, regional and international bodies to boycott the national dialogue forced the government to accept a preparatory conference outside Sudan.

However, the Sudanese intellectual sees that the upcoming preparatory meeting will be limited to the Sudanese Revolutionary Front and National Umma Party, excluding other civil society organizations and opposition parties which are boycotting the national dialogue.

On Tuesday, the British Ambassador to Khartoum Michael Aron reportedly reiterated his country's willingness on to help urge all Sudanese political parties to participate in the national dialogue conference. Aron was quoted as saying that he discussed with the presidential assistant the participation of political parties and armed movements which reject the preparatory conference in Addis Ababa scheduled early next month.