Sudan frees prominent Islamist leader

By Nima Elbagir

KHARTOUM, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Sudan on Monday freed prominent Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi, a former ally of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, in a move analysts said could help win the government support in talks to end a civil war in the south.

Analysts said the release did not mean the government would allow the return to mainstream politics of Turabi, who was Bashir’s chief ideologue before he was arrested in February 2001. But they said the government still needed to win over Turabi’s followers.

Bashir’s Islamist government, which came to power in a 1989 coup, is in talks with the southern-based rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), to end a 20-year-old conflict that has ravaged the south and cost the lives of two million.

Turabi was arrested for crimes against the state following a power struggle with Bashir, after Turabi signed a deal with the SPLA. The rebel group has fought since 1983 for greater autonomy in the south.

Speaking after his release, Turabi told reporters at his house in Khartoum: “This decision was not reached due to logic but was due to pressure…Pressure was exerted on the government by the situation in the south, the west, and by the international community which weakened the ruling power.”

Securing a peace deal with southerners is crucial to helping end Sudan’s isolation, after it was branded one of the “state sponsors of terrorism” by the United States in 1993.

Peace talks in Kenya have already reached an outline agreement under which the mainly Christian and animist south will vote on secession after a six-year transition. But key issues on sharing wealth and power are still being discussed.

Sudan signed a ceasefire with western rebels last month.

Also speaking from Turabi’s home, Justice Minister Ali Mohamed Osman Yassin said: “This is a further proof of the government’s commitment towards peace and greater freedoms.”

An official Sudanese source said the president issued a decree releasing all political prisoners on Monday. Other prisoners from Turabi’s Popular National Congress party were also released, a party official said.

“The government no longer wants to go in the direction Turabi might have wanted when he was part of the government but it still needs to appeal to his constituents for its plans to move forward with the peace deal,” said Stephen Morrison, Africa programme director at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.

A Western diplomat in Khartoum welcomed the move to release Turabi, saying it indicated a readiness to respect human rights.

“He (Bashir) actually promised to release political prisoners on the signing of a peace deal, so this is in advance of this (signing) and is very positive,” the diplomat said.

A U.S. official earlier this month said Washington would take a good look at removing Sudan from its list of “state sponsors of terrorism” if the government reaches a peace deal.