Islamist oppsition party warns govt of banning its activities

KHARTOUM, May 7, 2005 (Sudan Tribune) — The opposition Popular National Congress Party (PNC) has warned of the consequences of rejecting its application to the registrar of political parties requesting his office to allow the party to resume political activities and reopen its offices.

Turabi’s party was suspended following accusations of similar coup attempts back in April last year.

Cautioning the government, the PNC said rejecting its application would lead Sudan into a real political crisis with unpredictable consequences.

The PNC further affirmed that it had stopped communicating with the ruling National Congress (NC), adding that reports on reduced tensions between the two sides were mere wishful thinking.

The PNC deputy leader, Abdallah Hassan Ahmad, informed Alwan daily newspaper that the application by the party to the registrar of political parties was based on the fact that freezing the party’s activities had no constitutional basis.

He further went on to deny any ongoing communications with the NC which is aimed at reconciliation and secure the release of party leader Hassan al-Turabi, even at the level of intervention by Islamic leaders outside the two parties.

Nontheless, Popular Congress number two Abdullah Hassan Ahmed told AFP, on April 7, 2005, he had met his counterpart from the ruling party, Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, on Wednesday and they had agreed to hold further talks.

Almost alone among opposition parties, the Popular Congress backs the government’s defiance of Resolution 1593 and its demand for trials before the International Criminal Court of officials accused of war crimes during the suppression of a two-year-old ethnic minority uprising in Darfur.

Sudan has been under a state of emergency since 1999, a measure which allows the government to detain people without charge. The government promised to end emergency law following a peace deal signed in January to end a civil war in the south.