Sudan’s Bashir pledges to apply “clean Shari’a”
February 28, 2015 (GADAREF) – Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir has defended the Islamic project saying his government is being accused of suppressing opposition because it applies Shari’a laws and rejects secular rule.
He said the number of mosques that are being built every day, reflects that there is increasing interest in performing prayers.
The Sudanese president further pointed that secularism and its supporters have no place in Sudan, saying they don’t seek to suppress the people but they are following Allah’s commands and prohibitions.
Bashir during his 25-year rule always presented international sanctions, pressure and criticism as attacks directed against the Islamic state he wants to establish in Sudan.
The incumbent president attacked opposition forces that call for the postponement of elections, underscoring their elections boycott campaign will fail.
“This rally is [our reply] to those who call for elections boycott. Who will boycott elections? Let us count their [opposition] supporters,” he said.
Sudanese political forces call to postpone the upcoming general elections until after the national dialogue and formation of a transitional government. However, the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) rejects the claim saying the ecection is a constitutional requirement that must be met.
Last Month, the opposition alliance of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) and the opposition Reform Now Movement (RNM) launched two separate campaigns for poll boycott.
ELECTORAL PROMISES
Bashir said he did come to Gedaref in search for votes in the elections, pointing he will not make unenforceable promises.
“When you give your votes [to opposition parties] they whip you on your backs but we don’t lie and we carry out our promises in order to acquit ourselves in the Day of Judgment,” he added.
He said his government came to power to save farmers and nomads from hunger, thirst and disease and to provide services for the people in the peripheries, acknowledging their renaissance project has yet to be completed.
Bashir came to power in June 1989 when, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, he led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of prime minister al-Sadiq al-Mahdi.
The Sudanese president pointed out that completion of the work at Upper Atbara and Setait dams will resolve drinking water crisis in Gedaref besides generating electricity and providing water for a million acres of agricultural land in eastern Sudan.
Bashir, who is visiting several states within his campaign for presidential elections, said his government seeks to achieve the slogan of Sudan being “bread basket of the world” through the Arab food security initiative and by increasing production and productivity.
He also denied claims that education in Sudan had collapsed following the implementation of the “higher education revolution”, arguing that the “Salvation Revolution” has expanded the general and higher education across the country without compromising on quality.
Bashir pointed to high demand for graduates of Sudanese universities in the labour market abroad, emphasising the “civilizational project” has not failed and the young people did not deviate from the path of Allah (God).
(ST)