The Alliance of Sadiq and Turabi

By Ahmed Al-Rabei, Asharq Alawsat

July 13, 2005 — I cannot understand how a veteran Sudanese politician as prominent as Sadiq Al-Mahdi could risk establishing an alliance with Hassan Al-Turabi and his group. I do not believe that the blood relation between them may be the reason, as Al-Mahdi is understood to be much more intelligent than to start an alliance solely on that basis. I do not understand how he could ally himself with such a controversial and temperamental character that who frequently makes alliances with everyone and yet coldly turns against them at a later stage.

Al-Turabi and his group were one of the main reasons for the Sudanese calamity. Their way of administrating the state planted the first seed of hatred within the Sudanese people. The political inconstancy of this group and their attempt to play all possible cards lead to numerous disasters.

Al-Turabi’s Sudan was much like the Arab world of international terrorism, moving from Bin Laden to Carlos whom he later delivered through a deal surrounded by many questions and controversies. Al-Turabi himself contributed to founding an international movement through the groups of the Muslim Brotherhood. He is the designer of the military coup in which he played the victim and was imprisoned unjustly.

We thought that after the bitter Sudanese experience of the Al-Turabi period, people and political powers had realized how dangerous such a group is, with their style of administration and their regional and international relations. Al-Turabi ruined Sudan’s relations with the entire Gulf region as well as with its most important neighbor, Egypt. He tried to use the Iranian card and played a controversial part with relation to Saddam Hussein’s regime. Recently, he came out of prison to talk about reform and democracy after the practices of his followers lead to the demolition of Sudan and to the monopoly of authority.

We believed Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi would be more cautious in dealing with this new phase of history in Sudan. We respect his choice not to participate in national reconciliation and his opinion concerning the latest agreements, however now he is proving to be unjust to himself and to political history by moving to an opposition lead by Hassan Al-Turabi. The outcome of such an alliance, like all other experiences of Al-Turabi, will be numerous alliances with groups of which he will later turn into adversaries?as time will tell!