Sudan’s Sumoud alliance and parties affiliated with the Declaration of Principles have rejected an invitation from the international Quintet mechanism to attend political consultations in Addis Ababa, according to informed sources.
Sources told Sahih Sudan that the groups declined the invitation because the Quintet had continued to shape the political process unilaterally, without holding meaningful consultations with Sudanese stakeholders.
They accused the mechanism of attempting to design a process that would allow figures linked to the former National Congress Party and the Islamist movement to return to the political arena, despite their removal from power by the Sudanese people.
According to the sources, such an approach would amount to recycling the former regime, which they blamed for helping ignite the current war.
The groups also objected to what they described as attempts to give political organisations created or supported by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan a dominant role in the negotiations, allowing them to steer the process towards sustaining the war rather than achieving peace.
Separate sources told Sahih Sudan that some representatives within the Quintet, particularly those linked to the African Union and the Arab League, lacked the neutrality required to facilitate a credible political process.
They alleged that these officials were working through regional actors to establish a framework that would legitimise both the war and the military takeover, warning that such a path would not produce a lasting settlement.
The Quintet comprises the United Nations, African Union, European Union, Intergovernmental Authority on Development and Arab League.
The mechanism had invited several Sudanese political blocs to participate in consultative meetings scheduled to take place in Addis Ababa at the end of July.
