Former Sudan PM Al-Mahdi skeptical of government claims on sabotage plot
By Wasil Ali
July 16, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Former Sudanese Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Umma party Sadiq al-Mahdi expressed skepticism about government announcement of a foiled sabotage plot.
Sudanese security services on Saturday arrested the Mubarak al-Fadil, chairman of the Umma Reform and Renewal opposition party over allegations of planning sabotage actions in the country.
The former presidential assistant was arrested along with a number of retired army generals, including retired general Mohamed Ali Hamid, who worked as deputy director of security in the late eighties, as well as former minister of tourism, Abdeljalil al-Basha.
Al-Mahdi who spoke by phone to Sudan Tribune said that “this is the fifth time we hear from the government about an alleged coup attempt through the years that turns out to be nothing”.
The leading opposition figure noted that in each of these instances the Sudanese government talks about “incriminating evidence and stocks of weapons found but no details are provided”.
He added that government statements in this regard are contradictory saying that it is not clear whether this was a “planned act of sabotage or a coup attempt”.
Sudan in 2005 arrested 28 people from the Popular Congress Party for their involvement in an alleged coup attempt.
Asked about the motives for the government to make up these accusations against al-Fadil, Al-Mahdi said that “the government is isolated and no one knows how they are thinking”.
Al-Mahdi urged the government to “disclose all evidence and conduct public prosecutions in full transparency of those accused”.
Al-Fadil, the chairman of the Umma Reform and Renewal party defected from the popular Umma Party led by al-Mahdi to form his own party and at one point was the presidential adviser until 2004 when he was sacked by the Sudanese president.
Al-Fadil has been critical of the Sudanese government particularly in dealing with the conflict in Darfur. His political stances have encouraged from the mainstream Umma Party to reconcile him with his cousin Al-Sadeq Al-Mahdi. In the last few months there appeared to have been a breakthrough in these attempts.
Analysts who spoke to Sudan Tribune suggested that the arrests were meant to block the reunification efforts underway.
However Al-Mahdi dismissed these speculations saying that the reunification efforts are “in their early stages”.
Khartoum has suggested foreign links to the sabotage attempt. Sudan’s presidential adviser Nafi Ali Nafi told Al Jazeera news channel based in Qatar that Washington was behind the sabotage plot.
On Saturday the Sudanese government said that Libya notified them of Al-Fadil’s plans before reversing this part of the story.
Osman Mirghani of the daily Al-Sudani newspaper suggested to Sudan Tribune that Libya is behind this plot despite the government denial.
The Umma party is historically known to have very good relations with Tripoli. At one point the Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi provided financial support to the party during the seventies.
In response to a question as to whether Al-Mahdi contacted the Libyans to get clarification on any possible links with the plot, the former prime minister said that his party has severed contact with Tripoli for the last two years.
“They [the Libyans] wanted us to join the ranks of the government but our position was that we will only do that through fair elections”.
Al-Mahdi added that Al-Fadil heeded to the Libyan request and thus maintained good relations with them.
Whether he thinks if his cousin and long term partner in the opposition ranks is the kind of person who would carry out these such acts, he responded by saying that “men are closed boxes” before emphasizing his doubts regarding the government story.
(ST)