SPLM’s Arman inaugurates elections campaign
February 14, 2010 (KHARTOUM) –The presidential candidate for the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) Yasir Arman kicked off his elections campaign with a speech in the twin capital city of Omdurman saying his message is one of “hope and change”.
“Ali Abdel-Latif who emerged from the Sudanese union to the space of the White Brigade saying that before Sudanese should be Arab or African Muslims or Christians they should be Sudanese first” Arman told crowd of his supporters.
The SPLM figure said that the ex-Southern rebel group late leader John Garang who carried the project of “New Sudan” calling for a secular state based on equal citizenship rights for all irrespective of religious or ethnic background.
Arman is believed to be one of the strongest 11 candidates running against Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir with a possibility that he may capture most of the 4.7 million votes in the South ruled primarily by the SPLM.
Observers say that Bashir is desperately seeking legitimacy in face of the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) last year for war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur. The warrant has restricted his ability to travel abroad particularly to countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute.
Arman said the SPLM stood for justice for the victims of Darfur, where the United Nations estimates some 300,000 people died in a humanitarian crisis sparked by a counter-insurgency campaign.
“We’ll take the town to the countryside, not the country to the town,” he said.
In his speech Arman also made a subtle reference to the dilemma facing Bashir saying that any outcome will not change his incitement status.
“Some are seeking to acquire a false legitimacy thinking that will protect him from the Sudanese people and international community and through it crosses into war not peace and renews the legitimacy of this war not the peace agreement” he said.
“The people of Sudan must choose the path of peace not war and we are confident of that,” Arman added.
The presidential hopeful suggested that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) does not desire giving the voters free will.
“Those who do not provide the opportunity within their party to choose a new candidate to replace twenty years of one individual’s rule cannot allow the people of Sudan freedom of choice, and the people of Sudan must only rely on themselves and turn the elections battle to a democratic, inclusive public battle for a change to new hope and a new Sudan” Arman said.
Arman said the SPLM supported “voluntary unity”” referring to a referendum on independence which will be held in South Sudan next January even though the Southerners are expected to vote overwhelmingly for independence.
The SPLM leader Salva Kiir in a speech last year urged Southerners to vote for independence in the 2011 referendum to avoid being treated like “second class citizens” in a unified Sudan. His statements drew heavy criticism from the NCP.
Hypothetically, a win by Arman will create an awkward situation should the South decide to secede. The NCP has urged the SPLM to withdraw Arman’s candidacy but the offer was rejected.
Yesterday Bashir in an elections rally has pledged to step down “peacefully” should he lose in the elections.
This week the former US president Jimmy Carter told reporters that it is unlikely that Bashir will win a majority in the first round of the elections scheduled for April which will mean that a second round will be needed between the first and second runners.
(ST)