{The head of the African Union High Implementation Panel (AUHIP), Thabo Mbeki, said that Sudanese president, Omer al-Bashir, welcomed his efforts for a successful dialogue in Sudan and agreed to release jailed opposition leader Ibrahim al-Sheikh.}
Mbeki, following a meeting with Bashir on Wednesday, said that the Sudanese president welcomed the agreement on national dialogue and constitutional process inked by Paris declaration forces and the national dialogue subcommittee for external liaison in Addis Ababa on 4 September.
He further said the meeting addressed “the need to create the right climate” for conducting the national dialogue by allowing freedom of expression, assembly and information as well as releasing political prisoners and detainees.
“And indeed the president again agreed about t the importance of that. So he said to me that according to our discussions the government would take the necessary action to release Ibrahim al-Sheikh,” Mbeki said.
On Wednesday evening a spokesperson for the opposition Sudanese Congress Party (SCoP) told Sudan Tribune that they were not officially notified of a decision to release the party leader, pointing that al-Sheikh is being currently arrested in Al-Obeid prison, North Kordofan state along with six others party members.
The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) arrested al-Sheikh in June after comments he made at a seminar in which he criticised the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and accused them of committing abuses in conflict zones. He faces charges that could hand him the death penalty if convicted.
On Monday evening, NISS released the deputy chairman of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP), Meriam al-Mahdi, who has been arrested upon her return to the country on 11 August after taking part in talks between the NUP and the rebel alliance of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) in France.
Sudan Tribune
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