Pro-Turabi supporters stage demonstrations in Khartoum

January 19, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – Several hundred members from the Popular Congress Party (PCP) staged a demonstration in the Sudanese capital on Wednesday night to protest the arrest of their leader in another sign of growing political tensions in the North as the South prepares to break away.

On Tuesday, the Islamist opposition figure Hassan Al-Turabi Turabi was arrested at his home by heavily armed security officers. More than half a dozen senior officials from the PCP were also taken into custody.

Initially the Sudanese authorities justified the move by saying that they found new information retrieved from Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) members captured in West Darfur last week that links the PCP to the rebel movement.

But on Tuesday the Sudanese presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie said that Turabi was detained after discovering a plot to carry out a sabotage attempt and assassinations but gave no details.

Opposition figures held a public meeting on Wednesday at the PCP headquarters in Khartoum in which they called for the release of Turabi and pledged to topple the government by any means necessary.

The PCP leading figure Ibrahim Al-Sanoosi speaking at the forum called for opposition to unite ranks.

“The only enemy for us [opposition] now is the government and we will bring it down by any means necessary,” calling on the Sudanese army “to side with people’s choices”.

Al-Sanoosi also plead to the police to avoid hitting demonstrators, stressing that the bulk of the current country leaders “are not from well known families nor are they people of power or wealth or from the political leaders of the Islamic movement”.

“In the same way we brought them to power we shall overthrow them to repent from our sin” he added.

Turabi was the mastermind behind the 1989 coup staged by president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir. But the pair fell out following the introduction of a bill to limit the president’s powers in 1999, a move which the president resisted by dissolving parliament and declaring a state of emergency.

He was in an out of jail the whole time after splitting ranks with Bashir over accusations ranging from staging a coup attempt to standing behind the rebellion that broke out in Darfur.

The PCP chief is believed to be seeking to avenge his ouster which was orchestrated by his former disciples. The party has acknowledged that it made a mistake by planning the 1989 coup that brought Bashir to power.

Al-Sanoosi criticized the government’s refusal to negotiate with JEM saying that if the latter is PCP’s military wing then they should negotiate with them rather than go to Doha which is hosting the peace talks.

“Why are they negotiating with them [JEM] in Doha and block us from negotiating with them [JEM] . We find it bizarre their accusation that JEM is PCP’s military wing. They are negotiating with JEM and not us the origin if we were truly linked to them”.

The PCP figure also claimed that they have the ability to end the Darfur crisis in 24 hours.

Al-Sanoosi also revealed for the first time that the Islamic movement probed Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie, following their involvement in the assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia in 1994.

He pointed out that the charges by Nafie against Turabi this week is because the he was bitter after the PCP leader expelled him from the security bureau after the plot on Mubarak. He also mocked Nafie’s remarks on the alleged assassination plot by Turabi saying that he had plenty of opportunities to do that with big support from security agencies but did not do so.

Furthermore he pointed fingers at Nafie saying that he was behind a number of assassinations in the past and threatened to unveil more secrets.

Al-Sanoosi said he does not fear arrest and is willing to join Turabi in prison and slammed corruption within the government claiming that’s Bashir’s vehicle costs $1 million.

The leader of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) Mohamed Ibrahim Nugud speaking at the forum said that everyone needs Turabi at this moment to contribute in resolving the issues of Sudan and to hold a constitutional conference to save time rather than take the streets immediately.

Nugud demanded an apology to the people of Darfur and approving of their demands for establishing a one region status.

In the same context, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leading figure Ali Al-Sayed denied rumors about his party’s dialogue with the ruling party calling it “lies”, stressing that the party’s choice is with the people to topple the government and said that with the arrest of Turabi people must be prepared for ghost houses.”

At the conclusion of the meeting PCP supporters took streets adjacent to the meeting place on their way to Turabi’s house chanting anti-government slogans but clashed with police which dispersed them using batons and tear gas.

Turabi’s wife on Wednesday also staged a sit-in at the HQ of the NISS demanding to see her husband with two of her daughters saying that she will not leave until she gets to see him.

She told Sudan Tribune that the doctor was not allowed to check Turabi and that the NISS backtracked on their promise to let her meet with him at 2 pm.

(ST)