Nafie echoes accusation of opposition involvement in “subversive attempt”

December 2, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s presidential assistant Nafe Ali Nafe has accused unnamed opposition parties of plotting the recent “subversive attempt” with the help of “Islamists who have personal ambitions”

Addressing a rally in Al-Kirida Village in the White Nile State on Sunday, Nafe criticized opposition parties saying they don’t have a vision for ruling the country and don’t agree on anything except the removal of the current regime. He went on to accuse them of being stooges “who receive orders from the West and secularists, and who support armed groups to overthrow the regime”

Sudan media minister Ahmad Bilal Osman said last week that investigations with 13 individuals detained in connection with a “subversive attempt” allegedly foiled on 22 November had confirmed the involvement of an opposition party in the putative putsch.

Although Osman declined to name the opposition party, he said that two of the detainees made contacts with the armed rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), giving an indication that he might have been referring to the Islamist opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) led by Hassan Al-Turabi due to the fact that the authorities routinely accuses him of being the mastermind of the insurgents from Darfur western region. The minister added that two opposition members had also been arrested in relation to the coup.

The detainees include ex-spy chief and presidential adviser Salah Gosh, Brigadier General Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel-Galil from the Sudanese army (SAF) and Major General Adil Al-Tayeb from the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS)

Meanwhile, the secretary of communication at the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), Hamid Sidiq, told reporters on Sunday that the plotters of the “subversive attempt” are not members of the NCP or the Sudanese Islamic Movement (SIM) because they are part of the military establishment and therefore can’t be members of political parties.

Details surrounding the attempt remain murky with officials making conflicting statements but many analysts and observers saw it as the clearest sign of a power struggle within the regime of president Omer Hassan al-Bashir who came to power in 1989 after staging a military coup.

First Vice-President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha came out on Saturday to blast the alleged coup plotters, accusing them of “treachery” and vowing to deal with them swiftly.

(ST)