The 28th Anniversary of the National Islamic Front Coup in Sudan
By Mahmoud A. Suleiman
The Friday, June 30, 2017 marks the 28th anniversary of the military Coup d’état, led by the notorious National Islamic Front (NIF), the global Muslim Brotherhood Movement (MBM) which undermined the democratically elected government in Sudan to litter the land with corruption, genocidal killing, displacement and impoverishment. During their reign Sudan became a rogue and pariah state in the eyes of the world because of the criminal acts practiced by the gang of the ruling regime of the National Congress Party (NCP). At this moment we remember a huge number of revolutionary figures who martyred and went as the victims of the crimes of Omer Hassan Ahmed al- Bashir and the entourage of his regime. We remember and salute the martyrs of the Darfur region, the martyrs of Kordofan, the martyrs of the south of the Sudan and the martyrs of the Manaseer region, martyrs of Gezira and the martyrs of Port Sudan. The Sudanese people will remember the killing of Majdi Mahjoub, pilot Girgis and Doctor Ali Fadul along with the martyrs of Ramadan 28, martyrs of the area Manaseer and Kajbar and the martyrs of the Intifada and the martyrs 19 September 2013.
During these times, we remember prisoners of war and prisoners of conscience who have been languishing in the in the prisons of the ruling regime of the outgoing National Congress Party and we commend and highly value their great signs of steadfastness. We hope Healing for wounded everywhere in the swathes of Sudan.
The National Islamic Front (NIF), as soon as rested assured on the helm, considered the people of Sudan in the Southern Sudan, region of Darfur and the marginalised territories as its prime archenemies and declared Jihad warfare against the civilian Sudanese citizens. They classified Sudanese people according to the concept of either with us or against us. In their quest for empowerment, (NIF) hard-liners adopted a policy of dismissal of government employees allegedly thought potentially disloyal under the pretext of the so-called ‘Public Good/Interest’. Thus, hundreds of workers and officials in the Civil Service have been dismissed and replaced by inept unqualified individuals affiliated to the (NIF). The (NIF) Putschists gave the nickname of (Dismissal for Pubic Good) that phenomenologically farcical process.
Furthermore, they portrayed the war against the Southern Sudan, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement Army (SPLM/A) Rebels as a Jihad employing the regular Sudan Armed Force (SAF) and the militia Popular Defence Forces (PDF) which they portrayed as Mujahideen. The Majority of the (PDF) were conscripts from amongst high school, college and university students. Regular TV programme calling for jihad against the infidels known as (In the backyards of redemption) accompanied. NIF described their dead as martyrs and described the other dead in southern Sudan war as (Matt Fetaiz), the phrase means that others slain by their army as Rotten Fetid Corpses- according to their own words and phraseology. On the political front, the putschist regime dissolved the parliament, political parties and their representatives, who were members of it and imposed emergency laws all over the Sudan, and seized the banks and they by virtue of a deterrent decreed penalty included lynching for every person who owned hard foreign currencies such as the US dollar, British Pound after the forfeiture and the confiscation of the amount. Moreover, they claimed that they came with what they called as Civilisational Project and Apostolic Orientation for the Islamisation of Sudan and the people of the country. Furthermore, they claimed that they will fight America and Russia which their Torment has approached they have met what hurts them, so to speak! However, hypocrisy is lanyard as the popular saying goes, and very soon the putschists agreed secretly with the US intelligence agency (CIA) to provide intelligence on the movements of Islamic jihadist terrorists that had taken Khartoum as a safe haven refuge.
The putschist entity of (NIF) had committed a heinous crime against their companions in the Sudan Armed Force (SAF), which included non-commissioned officers and officers of more than thirty on the pretext that they were involved in an alleged military coup attempt against them. The Execution of those 28 military officers took place on the Holy Month of Ramadan, which coincided April 23, 1990, in an ugly image representing treachery and betrayal. Thus, began the first step towards dismantling the Sudanese army in favour of the lords of the National Islamic Front (NIF) until the armed forces have become a monopoly; but later replaced by the Janjaweed militias and mercenaries that waged proxy civil wars on behalf of Omer Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir and his entourage against the Sudanese unarmed noncombatant civilian citizens in Darfur where crimes of genocide have been systematically committed, 28 years on today’s date.
Darfur Forced to Take up to Arms
Moreover, when the people of Darfur who have suffered from systematic marginalisation by the successive governments led by the political elites, the majority of whom were descendants from the Northern Region since the Independence of Sudan in January 1956 from British colonialists rule. The then Brigadier Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir, virtually the leader of the regime, said publicly that he would not negotiate with anyone who did not carry weapons. Bashir’s statement forced the young men of the Region to take up to arms on February 2003 in quest for the legitimate rights of citizenship which include wealth sharing and power sharing and removal of systematic marginalisation and chronic deprivation which they and their people suffered and rights have been denied for so long. Moreover, they included those grievances in the Black Book imbalance of power and wealth in Sudan written around the end of the year 1999 by intellectuals from the Darfur region, a group led by Martyr Dr Khalil Ibrahim Muhammad, Allah forgive him and bless his soul.
The Janjaweed unleashed to run havoc
When the army and Janjaweed militias of the regime subjected to defeats at the hands of gallant Darfur armed movements rebel forces in all locations and battle fields, the Khartoum government has decided to take revenge on civilians rather than confronting the rebels. It unleashed the Janjaweed militias to wreak havoc and corruption on earth, burning villages and looting the property of citizens and killing women, kids and the elderly. Based on the war crimes perpetrated in the form of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant to apprehend the head of the regime Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. Furthermore, the (ICC) issued arrest warrants of the former Defence Minister Abdelrahim Mohammed Hussein and Ahmed Mohamed Haroun, former state minister of interior, and Ali Abdelrahman Kushayb, leader of the Janjaweed militias, all of whom remain fugitives from international justice. Moreover, the NCP regime in order to be capable of carrying out further atrocious crimes against the people of Sudan in Darfur worked relentlessly for getting rid of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID). However, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) continued extending the period of the (UNAMID) Force yearly. Accordingly, the UN Security Council and the Peace and Security Council of the African Union have considered extending the Mandate of (UNAMID) for 12 months, until 30 June 2017, without modifying its priorities or adjusting its authorised troop and police ceiling. http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2016/510.
NCP regime waging War on Citizens while swathes of Sudan’s land occupied by Foreigners
The (NCP) regime has been waging futile warfare against fellow citizens while swathes of the soil of Sudan remain under the occupation by foreign neighbouring countries. These are the Sudanese territories occupied by the Egyptian army in Halayeb and Shalateen In addition to an area of 600 thousand in Fashaga occupied by Ethiopia. The (NCP) regime behaves, as the popular proverb says, he behaves as a lion on unarmed noncombatant civilian citizens of Sudan in Darfur though just an Ostrich in wars with who attacked and seized a vast swathes of areas of the dear homeland!
Inciting Intertribal Warfare
Furthermore, in the Darfur region, the regime of the NCP sought in addition to the crimes of genocide to fragment the eternal social fabric of the citizens by dividing the region into five states based on the tribal lines. As expected, that led into tribal strife and intertribal warfare. Worse, the regime held a bogus referendum for the revocation of the region so as the word and opinion of the people of Darfur fragmented and divided toward their vital issues. Thus, the NCP regime vehemently opposed to Darfur remaining as one region and opted for dismantling it into warring tribal cantons with fragmentation of the social fabric.
Systematic Government Corruption Widespread
The epidemic of government corruption remained widely spread in the decadence era of the (NIF). They looted the country’s oil and gold revenues to foreign banks under the names of relatives of influential people in the regime of the National Congress Party accounts. Furthermore, the putschists as well as sold the major productive state institutions such as the Gezira irrigated agriculture project, Sudan Airways, Sudan Shipping Lines, Sudan railway corporation and privatisation of education and health services and so on! Moreover, they sold the famous Sudan House in the Knight Bridge neighbourhood in London cheaply to a crony investor of the (NCP) regime as well selling the airstrip of the Sudan Airways (Sudan air) at Heathrow Airport. For the legalisation of corruption, the Islamism regime of the (NCP) decided to urge the religious Sheikhs affiliated to it introducing the so-called (Tahalul), meaning biodegradable decomposition and disintegration, which according to their Religious Fatwa removes “Haram” and make it Halal! Still the worse is on the way. The racist supremacist elements in the regime made the unity in Sudan unattractive to the citizens of Southern Sudan through racism by making them take the option of secession and formation of their own nascent state, South Sudan, in 2011. There are plenty of calamities brought about by the ruling regime of the National Congress Party (NCP) to the disenfranchised people of Sudan, but the space does not accommodate the entire reminder.
The genocidal criminal Omar al-Bashir and his Islamism claiming entourage will remain held responsible for the heinous crimes they perpetrated in the rights of the Sudanese people over the 27 lean years of oppressive putschist regime. Thus, autocracy and reign of terror continued for past 27 years despite the fact that the people of Sudan used in the past staunch advocates of fighting for freedom, October 21, 1964, and April 1985 Revolutions as examples.
Unlimited support the genocidal criminal Omar al-Bashir from the African Union
Omar al-Bashir and his regime took proxy civil wars of attrition safe haven to protect him from the International Court of Court’s (ICC) grip, which has been pursuing him since 2009. This is in addition to the support he receives from the Dictators Club called the African Union (AU) based in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Most of the members of the forum there are afraid of the spin of the circle upon them and fall under the accountability of the international Tribunal. The majority of the Club Members practised systemic repression and continued committing atrocities against the people of their countries.
Support from Some members in the International Community
The (NCP) regime receives political support provided by some permanent members of the UN Security Council. That support is in lieu of the intersecting interests in the form of intelligence on terrorism by the Islamic Jihadi groups from Egypt, Libya and other neighbouring countries, which take Khartoum as refuge on their belief that the Islamist regime of the National Congress Party would give them protection.
EU –Sudan Agreement to Curb Migration exodus from the Horn of Africa to European shores by rewarding the Génocidaire Omer al-Bashir
It is not so exciting or surprising if we look at what the European Union (EU) recently trying to strike a deal with Khartoum. (EU) planned for reaching an agreement with the ruling regime in Sudan for reducing migrants coming from the Horn of Africa countries to Europe through Libya. Germany is to provide an amount of one hundred million euros to Sudan, in addition to the establishment of camps in Eastern Sudan for refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia, and Somalia. Moreover, there is other additional package of facilities for the training of Sudanese police in Germany to carry out the task of reducing immigration to Europe. They ignored and flouted all the crimes committed by the head of the ruling regime of the NCP, Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir against humanity against the people of Sudan in Darfur, and fugitive from international justice and indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Machiavellian doctrine of end justifies the means continues in operation.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and UNAMID Size and Mandate Change in Darfur
To make bad situation worse, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) decided to reduce the size of the UNAMID Mission in Darfur by 50% and as well as changing its Mandate from Peace and Security keeping to Peace Building Mission on the pretext of cost where US has decided to reduce its financial contribution and/or that insurgence in Darfur has allegedly become thing of the past based on reports by the Sudanese government and some UN report writers! As for the people of Sudan in Darfur, UNAMID Exit or change of its primary mandate would Open Gates for Anarchy, more Lawlessness and hell on earth in Darfur.
We know that The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) last time has renewed the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) until Friday the 30th June 2017.
More importantly as well is that the reduction of UNAMID forces leads to the removal of the only international witness to the violations of the ruling regime of the National Congress Party, the genocide criminal in the Darfur region. The people of Sudan in Darfur have always advocated the need to strengthen the UNAMID mission and develop its forces by adding troops from Western countries to take an active role in achieving security. Furthermore, the instability in the Darfur region, the continued armed conflict and the continuing crimes of the cloned Janjaweed militias loyal to the ruling (NCP) regime the rapid support forces (RSF) militia all push for the renewal of the joint peacekeeping a Nazi-UNAMID, despite its weak performance, but its departure or the reduction of its personnel or change of its mandate will compromise security and derail the safe unfettered delivery of relief to the needy. Thus, the only international witness will lose the regime’s crimes against the people. More suffering in Darfur would become inevitable and it will result in cloning the ongoing failure in achieving peace to the war-torn Darfur region.
Removal of the Decades-Long Trade and Financial US Sanctions
The recent security rapprochement between the administration of new US President Donald Trump and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) regime could lead to the lifting of trade and economic sanctions entirely by the first half of July 2017 as decided by former US President Barack Obama at the last moment of the end of his term in office.
The rewarding of the genocidal criminal, the fugitive from the international justice, has become the justice of this era of decadence, where politicians in the international community are running behind interests humanity has become something of the past that has no place in the world of international politics today under the hegemony of the single pole! Thus, the pre-existing interests come before the values preserved in the corridors of the UN building in New York, Manhattan!
Edmund Burke the British-Irish Politician, Author, Orator, Political theorist, and Philosopher has been quoted as saying: (All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent).
Dr. Mahmoud A. Suleiman is an author, columnist and a blogger. His blog is http://thussudan.wordpress.com/