Inside secret meetings of Sudanese Islamists

August 10, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Last June and in an undisclosed location, the Shura (consultative) Council of the Sudanese Islamic Movement held a secret convention in which they adopted new strategic objectives and elected former foreign minister Ali Karti as its secretary general.

News about the meeting of the umbrella that gathers different Islamits political groups was picked up by only a handful of media outlets in Sudan due to the secret nature of the convention.

A figure affiliated with the former ruling National Congress Party (NCP) confirmed to {Sudan Tribune} reports of the convention but declined to offer any details.

Several sources with knowledge of the meetings also refused to provide information on what was discussed.

But one of the sources who asked for anonymity said that  “the [Islamic] movement’s organizational bodies along with all its executive and legislative levels and ever since October 25th [military coup] have been able to meet whenever, however, and wherever they wanted”.

He also added that these bodies had already held several important meetings at different times with the goal of rebuilding their organizational structures and offices.

The deputy Secretary-General of the Sudan People Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) Yasir Arman with apparent knowledge of the meetings recently said that it was attended by two Vice-Presidents of former President Omer Hassan al-Bashir, former state governors and a large number of the group’s leaders.

Arman warned in a Facebook post that the meeting “put the final touches to the comprehensive plan to sabotage the revolution and reassert control over the state, especially after the revival and reorganization of bodies such as the Popular Security. They discussed the possibilities and opportunities presented by the October 25 coup”.

Another Islamist source told Sudan Tribune that the Islamist Movement has struggled to regroup ever since the fall of the Bashir regime in April 2019 but recently made headway thanks to the efforts of Karti who took over as acting secretary general following the death of al-Zubeir Mohamed al-Hassan.

“He [Karti] today feels more comfortable and confident” and has now attended other meetings which saw wider participation of Islamists, the source said.

The source also revealed the establishment of an investigative committee to look into the circumstances surrounding the downfall of the Bashir regime and whether there was a mole from within.

But none of the subsequent meetings discussed the findings of the committee and instead decided to postpone it in order to avoid stirring disputes.

Sudan Tribune however can confirm that the committee’s report cleared former spy chief Salah Gosh, former army chief Awad bin Auf and former chief of staff  Kamal Abdel Marouf from any conspiracy and concluded that they acted in accordance with the situation that was evolving on the ground in wake of mass anti-regime demonstration.

The trio are among the leaders of the security committee that decided to remove Bashir and hand over power to al-Burhan who now heads the sovereign council.

The report also classified three coups as “unauthorized” namely the Oct 25th coup Al-Burhan”, the failed coup attempt of Hashem Abdel-Muttalib and the failed coup of Abdel-Baqi Bakrawi.

The source cautioned against painting a rosy picture and pointed out that divisions and infighting that existed before the demise of the Bashir regime represent a challenge to Karti.

He pointed out that this manifested itself in power struggles among Sudanese Islamists in Turkey when one group wanted to install former ambassador to the U.S., Mahdi Ibrahim, as head of its operations but was met with resistance from those loyal to former presidential adviser Nafi Ali Nafi.

In the end, the former head of the Sudanese intelligence services Mohamed Atta al-Mawla prevailed to run the Turkey office.

These struggles have also extended to the Islamist Popular Congress Party (PCP) which saw accusations of interference by Karti.

In the midst of these developments the Bashir regime leaders currently in prison also have a say in the NCP world despite being described as irrelevant by former Bashir advisor Amin Hassan Omer.