Around 20 Sudanese political parties threatened on Wednesday to boycott next year's elections, the first in more than two decades, unless President Omar al-Beshir implements reforms.
Meeting in the capital of semi-autonomous South Sudan, they called for "amendment of all laws related to freedoms and democratic transformation" to bring them into line with the interim constitution in Africa's largest nation.
In 2005, after 21 years of north-south civil war, the south's Sudan People?s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Beshir's National Congress Party (NCP) signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement including the interim constitution.
But the parties say many laws that breach the constitution are still in force, in particular ones relating to individual liberty and the powers of the secret service.
In the "Juba declaration for dialogue and national consensus," agreed after five days of talks, the leaders said they will only take part in planned presidential, parliamentary and regional elections if the relevant laws are amended by the end of November.
The elections, scheduled for April, would be the first since 1986.
The Juba declaration also demanded an agreement on the disputed results of a census on which electoral constituencies are to be based and the end of the conflict in the western region of Darfur as further conditions for taking part in the polls.
"It is a victory. For the first time in our history we have a national consensus," Pagan Amum, SPLM secretary general, told AFP.
Politicians who participated in the conference included SPLM leader Salva Kiir, former prime minister Sadek al-Mahdi of the Umma party, Islamist opposition figure Hassan al-Turabi and Communist Party head Ibrahim Nugud.
Beshir, who is the target of an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes, boycotted the conference.
The party leaders also agreed other joint demands without making implementation of them a condition for the leaders supporting the elections.
The declaration called on Beshir to establish a "Truth and Reconciliation Committee to investigate all violations and atrocities against the rights of groups and individuals" since Sudan became independent in 1956.
The International Criminal Court wants to try Beshir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, where the United Nations says 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes because of the fighting. Khartoum says 10,000 have died.
The parties at the Juba conference said they "affirm zero tolerance to impunity from prosecution" and want "those who have committed war crimes... brought to book before independent judiciary."
The leaders also backed the idea of a simple majority -- 50 percent plus one vote -- as the threshold for South Sudan gaining independence in a referendum scheduled for January 2011. Beshir's party wants a 75 percent threshold.
All the topics will be discussed when parliament resumes sitting on October 5. The NCP has 52 percent of seats and the SPLM 28 percent with the other parties sharing the remaining 20 percent.
Source: AFP Global Edition
