Sudanese president holds surprise meeting with Umma party chief

January 22, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir met on Saturday evening with the leader of the Umma National Party (UNP) Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi less than a week before the deadline given by the opposition leader to the ruling party expired.

In December, Al-Mahdi called on the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to form a national government that would write a new constitution, conduct new general elections that are fair and free, resolve the Darfur conflict, craft a brotherhood agreement with the south should it opt for independence in the referendum, allowing for unrestricted political environment, tackle economic crisis and deals with the International Criminal Court (ICC) row.

If the NCP does not respond positively to these demands by January 26th, Al-Mahdi said he would either end his political life or join the ranks of forces seeking a regime change.

January 26th coincides with the date of liberating Khartoum by Al-Mahdi’s great grandfather who is founder of Al-Ansar sect that forms the base of the UNP.

The UNP issued a statement following today’s meeting saying the delegation discussed with Bashir the “dangerous situation” in the country. Al-Mahdi presented the “national agenda” that requires agreement on crucial issues after which an inclusive mechanism would be established to implement them.

The NCP pledged to the former Prime Minister that it would review the proposal and respond to it later, the press release said.

Al-Mahdi also called for release of political prisoners namely leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) Hassan Al-Turabi arrested this week with other party officials or bring them to fair trials.

The spirit of the meeting was described as “positive and conscious of the gravity of the situation the country is going through”.

There was no mention in the statement of the deadline put by Al-Mahdi last month.

Sudan’s presidential assistant and NCP’s deputy chairman Nafie Ali Nafie told reporters afterwards that a joint committee will convene to conduct a serious and deep political dialogue within a definite period of time to reach an agreement that is to be reviewed by the leadership afterwards.

Nafie said that the NCP will reciprocate the UNP’s seriousness with more seriousness adding that at this stage the dialogue will be bilateral between both parties.

Sources in the UNP told Sudan Tribune that an emergency meeting was called for today by Al-Mahdi to discuss Bashir’s invitation for the meeting. Despite objections raised by other party officials it was agreed that the UNP would satisfy the invitation in order to reiterate the demands made previously by Al-Mahdi in his ultimatum.

Despite this, today’s meeting will undoubtedly infuriate the party’s base which over the years have tended to push for confrontation with the government.

In December, Sudanese police besieged the UNP headquarters and used batons with tear gas to break up a gathering of the party’s members heading to perform Friday prayers.

Al-Mahdi’s daughter Mariam suffered multiple fractures in her hand and flew to Jordan to seek medical treatment.

(ST)