Power struggle grips major Sudan party amid ‘internal coup’ claims

June 24, 2025 (OMDURMAN) – A power struggle has erupted within Sudan’s historic Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), with a senior leader on Tuesday accusing a rival faction of staging an “internal coup” by manipulating the party’s aging and infirm leader to issue decrees.

The dispute flared after decrees were issued on Monday in the name of party chief Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani, appointing several figures with ties to the former government of Omer al-Bashir to top posts and sidelining one of al-Mirghani’s sons.

A prominent party leader close to the family told the Sudan Tribune that the decisions were made “without his [al-Mirghani’s] consent.” Another senior figure was quoted as saying, “What has occurred is nothing less than a full-blown coup.”

The decrees appointed Ahmed Saad Omer, a former minister under Bashir, to head the party’s executive office, replacing al-Mirghani’s son, Jaafar al-Sadiq, who has been serving as the party’s deputy leader.

Critics blame a “Cairo group” surrounding another of al-Mirghani’s sons, Abdallah al-Mahjoub, for orchestrating the changes. They allege the group is taking advantage of the elder al-Mirghani, who is believed to be in his late 80s or early 90s and has been detached from daily politics for years.

A statement from Jaafar al-Mirghani’s faction described the decrees as a “despicable and malicious conspiracy” and a “cheap attempt to forge the will of the party’s masses.”

The DUP, one of Sudan’s oldest political parties, has been plagued for decades by internal divisions and family rivalries, and has been unable to hold a general conference to settle its leadership structure.

Questions over the elder al-Mirghani’s health have long circulated. An associate noted that upon his return to Sudan before the 2023 war, he merely greeted a large crowd of supporters but was unable to deliver a speech.