Sudan former PM says attack on capital a setback to Darfur crisis

By Wasil Ali

May 13, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — The leader of the largest Northern opposition party in Sudan said that the rebel offensive on the capital caused a “severe damage” to the Darfur crisis.

“The attack will reflect very badly on efforts to resolve the Darfur crisis” former Sudanese Prime Minister and leader of the opposition Umma party Sadiq al-Mahdi told Sudan Tribune by phone.

Al-Mahdi met with the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir yesterday and was quoted by Sudan official news agency (SUNA) as saying that he “regrets the involvement of the Chadian regime in this aggression”.

Darfurian rebels staged a bold attack and fought fierce battles with the Sudanese army on the outskirts of the capital. However the Sudanese government said it repulsed the attack and accused Chad of backing the assault.

Al-Bashir said in a televised statement that he holds Chad responsible of the foiled attack by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) troops against the Sudanese capital. He also announced that diplomatic relations with Chad have been broken.

But the Umma party leader acknowledged that Chad reciprocated the Sudanese backing of rebels attacking Ndjamena last February Al-Mahdi.

“What happened was that Chad facilitated the assault and made it happen. I was stating the facts. Of course there the Sudanese played a role in the attack against Ndjamena” Al-Mahdi told Sudan Tribune.

“Both countries are neighbors and I think they know the mistakes made. There has to be peaceful coexistence between them. We need to have a regional conference to discuss security matters” he added.

Last month an Umma Party delegation led by Sadiq al-Mahdi flew to Chad and proposed a plan to reconcile Khartoum and N’Djamena.

A Chadian official who spoke to Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity said the former Prime Minister suggested a conference for the tribal leaders in the war affected areas in eastern Chad and western Sudan to reconcile them.

Al-Mahdi said that his party had a comprehensive plan to resolve the Darfur conflict, Chad-Sudan tensions as well as internal Chadian political crisis.

“All parties involved were made aware of our plan including JEM. We have designated Mohamed Abdallah Zooma as our point of contact with these rebel groups” he added.

But the former prime minister stressed that he is not out to defend the government.

“The current regime practices shook the social structure in Darfur and initially the rejected a political solution for it. Now they agreed to bypass the ailing Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) [signed in May 2006 in Abuja]” he said.

Asked whether the government labeling of the JEM rebels as “mercenaries” and “traitors” would help defusing tensions he said that the government “can use the language they want. It is a political maneuver. The Darfur conflict is a political one”.

RETALIATION AGAINST DARFURIS IN KHARTOUM

There have been reports that the government is now targeting Darfuris living in Khartoum and arbitrarily arresting them.

“The Sudanese government may be systematically rounding up suspected rebel or opposition supporters in Khartoum,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Given Khartoum’s record of abuse, there is grave cause for concern about the fate of those detained.”

The Umma party chief said he was aware of a wave of retaliation that is targeting Darfuris in the Sudanese capital particularly those from Zaghawa tribe which JEM leader belongs to.

“This is unacceptable and we denounce such acts of racial profiling. However this was to be expected because of the huge distortion in situation that occurred following the attack” he said.

Al-Mahdi said his party was working diligently to mitigate the risks associated with that.

“We formed committees to monitor this and we informed the authorities that they have to be fair and considerate. We don’t want this to escalate into a full blown racial tension” he said.

1976 ASSAULT ON KHARTOUM BY UMMA PARTY

More than 30 years ago a coalition of Northern parties formed the National Front body opposing the regime of former president Ja’afar Nimeiri who came to power through a coup in 1969. The front consisted mainly of the Umma Party, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Islamic Charter Front.

The coalition backed by Libya mounted a coup attempt and hundreds of its fighters, mainly from Umma party, took over the capital for 3 days before being repelled by the Sudanese army.

But Al-Mahdi said there are fundamental differences between 1976 attempt and the one by JEM.

“The coalition consisted of legitimate parties and at the time the Nimeiri regime blocked any reconciliation initiatives and clinched firmly to power and we had no other alternative” the former PM said.

“But JEM has no legitimacy and were never part of the government. Also we only targeted military installations but JEM targeted civilian ones such electricity sources of power” he added.

Al-Mahdi was ousted as prime minister in a bloodless military coup in 1989 by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and has been one of the most outspoken critics of the government ever since. However lately he has taken a more favorable position towards the government saying the latter became more accepting of other political parties.

(ST)