Al-Tahir informs SPLM bloc officially of dropping its membership by the end of March

Sudan
2 March, 2011 (UNMIS MMR)

Al-sahafa, Khartoum

The Speaker of the National Assembly Ahmed Ibrahim Altahir informed the SPLM parlimentary bloc officially that the last day of its presence in the National and States Assemblies will be the end of the current month. He revealed that the General Secretariat of the National Assembly has been tasked to prepare a list of the new membership after dropping the membership of the Southerners as per article 118 of the Constitution.

Al-Tahir said in statements after holding a meeting with the head of SPLM bloc in the parliament Thomas Wani Iga yesterday that the National Assembly began arrangements to resume its sessions in April with the membership of the Northern MPs including the MPs of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. He mentioned that SPLM would retain eight members from the two areas.

While three constituencies in the north in which southern MPs were represented will be dropped: geographic constituency , national constituency and women constituency. He added(accordingly all the southern members of SPLM and NCP who won the southern constituencies will be dropped and the Assembly will hold sessions with the new membership, confirming that the membership is ready now and will be sent to media for dissemination.

Al-Tahir stressed that he had informed the Parlimentary legislative of SPLM with this decision. He added: we told them that the last day for them in the National Assembly will be 31 of current March and that all their rights stipulated by law will observed up to that date).

He noted that according to a political agreement that the institutions of the CPA will continue up to the end of the interim period except the the members of the national legislative and National Elections Commission members and the Political Parties Afairs from the south.

He mentioned that there are issues like the presence of NCP in the south and SPLM in the north or not, the issues of recognizing the new State, Abyei and the borders still under discussion, indicating that there are proposals from Mbiki,s panel in this regard.

Al-Tahir disclosed the reduction of the parliament committees in the frame of the new arrangements to 12 committees instead of 17 due to merging them. He firmly defended his decisions by adding that the constitutional clause is very clear and there is no any ambiguity in it.

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