Sudan’s Turabi calls for popular uprising

May 18, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — Leader of Sudanese opposition Popular Congress, Hassan al Turabi, is calling for the overthrow of the Sudanese regime through popular resistance.

Turabi said the Darfur Peace Agreement, signed on Friday 5 May between the Sudanese government and the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) of Minni Minawi, lacks a legitimate basis.

The regime will not fall “unless the people will replace it – not to the benefit of any regime or party, but to the benefit of all,” al-Turabi told reporters yesterday.

The Islamist ideologist said Darfur agreement was achieved only as a result of American pressures. He added that the Sudanese government pays attention now to America – the “lord of the earth” – and not to “Allah, the lord of the skies.”

Turabi, is a controversial figure in Sudanese politics, who once protected Osama Bin Laden, has spent much of the last five years in detention.

Also, he is the former mentor of President Omar al-Bashir. He lost out in a power struggle with him in 1999.

He was freed again in June 2005, after being held in connection with an alleged coup plot.

Last month, Turabi was branded an apostate by Sudanese Muslim scholars for taking a liberal stand on women’s rights.

(ST)