Former Sudan PM denies partnership with ruling party
By Wasil Ali
March 23, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Former Sudanese Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Umma party Sadiq al-Mahdi denied any intention to forge a political partnership with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).
The Umma party and the NCP have engaged in a direct political dialogue during the last few months. The meetings have stirred a great deal of speculation among observers on whether it would actually result in an agreement between the two parties.
“We want the Naivasha agreement to be owned by all the Sudanese people and not just two parties. The Umma party emphasized to the NCP the need for a democratic transformation, lifting of political restrictions and peace in Darfur” the Umma party leader said.
Asked whether that confirms what the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) chairman Salva Kiir said about the Umma party being against the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) Al-Mahdi said “we are not against the CPA or the rights of Southerners included in it. We simply want it to be an agreement that incorporates all Sudanese political powers”.
The SPLM signed a peace deal in January 2005 with the government of the National Congress Party in January 2005 ending two decades of civil war in Southern Sudan. The peace deal made the SPLM, the ruling party in the south and the NCP the ruling party in the north.
In 2009 Sudan will hold its first general elections since the 1989 coup that brought Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir to power. A census is supposed to prelude the elections but it remains unclear whether it will be held in the war ravaged region of Darfur which was also the Umma Party stronghold.
However Al-Mahdi said that his party is not prepared to be part of the elections if the Darfur crisis is not resolved.
The former prime minister also disclosed that during his discussions with government officials, both sides agreed that the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed in May 2006 should be skipped because it is unworkable.
Some analysts have suggested that the government would benefit from instability in Darfur to prevent a region which has historically been hostile to the NCP, from voting in the next elections.
But Al-Mahdi said that the NCP showed willingness to work on bringing peace to Darfur during their meetings, but acknowledged that he cannot confirm “whether they are serious or not”.
War of words with Darfur rebel leader Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur
The Umma party leader has recently engaged in a war of words with the Darfur rebel leader Abdel-Wahid Al-Nur following the latter’s controversial step of inaugurating an office in Israel.
Al-Mahdi had accused of Al-Nur of becoming a tool in the hands of the Jewish state while the rebel leader alleged that the Umma party chief called him secretly to congratulate him on the office.
“This is a lie. I never called him” the former prime minister told Sudan Tribune.
“Al-Nur had crossed the red line by opening the Israel office. We are firm believers in the rights of the Darfurian people but that does not mean that they have the right to do anything” he added.
Al-Mahdi said he had contacts with the rebel leader in the past to solve the Darfur crisis. He further said that his party was one of the first to call for an international peacekeeping force in the region to replace the African Union (AU) forces, a key demand by Al-Nur.
The opposition said that “it is not right” for Al-Nur to have an office in Israel at a time when the latter is “conducting a Holocaust against the Palestinian people”.
Al-Nur has told Sudan Tribune last month that Israel has given more help to Darfuri people than any Arab or Muslim country.
The Umma party leader agreed with Al-Nur that Arab and Muslim countries have shown little interest in helping Darfurians, but stressed that this “bad logic” because “Israel is persecuting the Palestinian people the same way the people of Darfur are being persecuted”.
(ST)