SUDAN NEWS ALERT: Multiple sources – SPLM-N al-Hilu says no breakthrough over demands for a secular state

17/12/19: Multiple sources – SPLM-N al-Hilu says no breakthrough over demands for a secular state

• Radio Dabanga

• Sudan Tribune

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North faction under the leadership of Abdelaziz El Hilu (SPLM-N al-Hilu) said there is no breakthrough in the ongoing discussions with the transitional government over his faction’s demands for self-determination unless the government commits to secularism.

SPLM-N al-Hilu spokesman of the negotiating team Jack Mahmud A. Jack told Sudan Tribune that "failure to achieve [a secular state] will inevitably make the option of the right to self-determination a principle rather than a negotiation position."

The transitional government’s position on the matter is that the separation between politics and religion must be affirmed in a constitutional conference gathering all the political forces, in order to avoid future friction from Islamists.