Al-Mahdi accuses Sudan’s government of fostering Takfiri groups

March 12, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The leader of Sudan’s opposition National Umma Party (NUP), Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi, has accused the government of sponsoring Islamist extremists, warning that such policy will backfire.

“The [ruling] National Congress Party (NCP) is nurturing scorpions and snakes, someday they will bite it,” Al-Mahdi said while addressing a regular political symposium held at his residence in Khartoum’s sister city of Omdurman on Monday.

He went on to pour scorn on the Islamic Constitution Front (ICF), a coalition of Islamist groups seeking to replace the country’s current constitution with a one based on Shariah laws.

Al-Mahdi said that the ICF’s talk of an Islamic constitution and declaration of Jihad was “nonsense” and “childish”. He said that such slogans were used before by the National Islamic Front (NIF) to seize power in a military coup. He pledged to impose ideological isolation on extremist groups.

Al-Mahdi turned his fire against security and police authorities citing their violations of human rights and haphazard arrests. He also announced that his party would launch a campaign to monitor violations of human rights and corruption.

(ST)