Khartoum — TheTrilateral Mechanism held two separate meetings yesterday with the mainstreamForces for Freedom and Change and Central Council faction (FFC-CC), and the Sudan People's Call initiative, backed by coup-leader and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) commander Abdelfattah El Burhan, headed by renowned Sufi leader, El Tayeb El Jad.

According to Mohamed Zakaria, one of the FFC-CC's official spokespeople, the FFC faction proposed that the AU-IGAD-UN mechanism should work on assembling initiatives in the Sudanese arena and called for an agreed-upon Sudanese dialogue platform.

The meetings were reportedly clear, transparent, and productive in their efforts to achieve a desired political consensus.

Sudan People's Call initiative calls for army to be 'supreme authority' in Sudan

Last week, a conference took place with a round table dialogue and resulting recommendations. The conference recommended that the High Council of the Armed Forces, as proposed by Gen Abdelfattah El Burhan on July 4, be given broad authority, including sovereign powers, so that it will be the supreme authority in the country.

El Wasig El Bereir, Secretary-General of the National Umma Party (NUP) and spokesperson for the FFC-CC, said that the initiative is "an attempt to turn back the clock and tame the revolutionary political forces that believe in democratic transformation by a force that defends the military coup. The military will work from behind the curtain to guide them in the directions they want".

El Bereir noted that the Sudan People's Call initiative, from the beginning, defined the crisis in Sudan as a conflict between groups of civilians. While the real crisis, he said, is caused by the October coup "which blocks the path to a genuine civilian-led democratic transformation".