DUP divided over Mirghani’s support for Bashir presidency

January 10, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) appears to be on the verge of a new discord after its leader Mohammed Osman al-Mirghani announced his support for Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir in the elections scheduled for next April.

This week, the cabinet affairs minister Ahmed Sa’ad Omer, who is a DUP official, said that al-Mirghani gave his blessings for Bashir who has led the country since the 1989 military coup orchestrated by the National Islamic Front of Hassan al-Turabi.

Today, DUP official in charge of states Mohamed al-Muatassim Hakim announced that the party will participate in the elections but not the presidential one.

Hakim said that the country is in need of national reconciliation as it is the only way to solve the Sudan’s problems, adding that elections is a constitutional requirement.

But a DUP official told Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity that party leaders met in the home of Hassan Abu-Sabeeb in Omdurman to discuss al-Mirghani’s announcement, adding that it included those refusing the DUP participation in the elections let alone supporting Bashir.

He declined to disclose the outcome of the meeting, but said that participants will hold a press conference on Sunday afternoon to unveil their position.

The DUP left opposition ranks and joined the “broad-base” government of the NCP in December 2011, citing the “need to save the country” in the words of al-Mirghani himself.

The decision of one of Sudan’s biggest opposition parties to join the government has created a great deal of internal dissent that saw many members quitting in protest. The party received three ministries in the federal cabinet.

This week, some local newspapers in Khartoum spoke of two secret meetings between Bashir and one of al-Mirghani’s sons to discuss the DUP’s position on the elections.

Previously, the presidential assistant and ruling party deputy chairman Ibrahim Ghandour, disclosed that the DUP has notified his party of its participation in the elections.

Major opposition parties such as the National Umma Party (NUP) and the Popular Congress Party (PCP) said they will not participate in the elections asserting that the National Congress Party (NCP) holds absolute control over power and refuses to make any compromise to end the civil war and allow public liberties.

In a related development, the Justice Party and the Federal Truth Party announced that they will take part in the 2015 elections at all levels.

(ST)