Secretary General of the SPLM-N rebels Yasser Arman accused the Khartoum government of delaying a preparatory meeting on the National Dialogue which was scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa in late March.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj from Paris, Arman said that his side has not received any invitation to an agreed upon preparatory meeting.

“We previously agreed to go for a preparatory meeting, and now it has taken us a long period of time without any invitation on the matter so far. There are talks that the meeting will be convened between 27 to 28 March, but there is no any invitation up to now as I speak."

But Arman, who is also the Foreign Relations Secretary of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), then said that the armed opposition will not participate in the preparatory meeting if the upcoming elections go ahead as planned.

The rebel official said the preparatory meeting should suspend the April election, or the SRF will take other means, stressing that elections are not the way forward for Sudan.

Arman accused President Omar al-Bashir of "deceiving" the political parties and international community with the National Dialogue.

“He is actually buying time to go ahead with elections,” Arman charged.

The leading SPLM-North member dismissed claims that the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) wanted to diminish the political opposition being spearheaded by members of civil society and National Consensus Forces, referring to a statement issued by the SPLA-North connecting its operation in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile region with the Leave Campaign.

“The political struggle being spearheaded by Farouq Abu Issa and Amin Mekki as well as Farah Agar has nothing to do with the military operations in the Two Areas, but they are our political allies,” said Yasser.

Opposition members in court

Separately, a Khartoum criminal court presided over by Judge Motasim Sir El Khatim resumed its sitting yesterday for the trial of Farouq Abu Issa and Amin Mekki Madeni, amid tightened security around the court building.

Supporters of the opposition parties were reportedly prevented from standing outside the court.

A source told Radio Tamazuj that the court listened to witnesses from the security service for several before the judge adjourned the sitting to another day.

Arman alleged that the evidence presented by the authorities to charge the “Sudan Appeal” signatories was fabricated.