Sudan’s Gosh may be expelled from NCP’s leadership: official

May 2, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A former adviser to Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir who was relieved of his duties last week may soon see himself booted out of the National Congress Party (NCP) leadership role, an official was quoted as saying.

Salah Gosh, who was considered a powerful figure within the state and the ruling party, was abruptly sacked by Bashir from his position as presidential adviser for security affairs. No reason was given for the decision.

This follows his surprise removal in 2009 by the Sudanese president from the directorship of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS).

Qutbi Al-Mahdi, the head of the organizations bureau at the NCP, told local media that he expects a new decision to be made soon that would also strip Gosh of all his titles within the party which included presiding over the NCP’s workers’ secretariat.

He added that Gosh’s status within the NCP would be re-evaluated but fell short of saying that his party membership would be revoked.

The former adviser holds a parliamentary seat as a representative of the Merowe constituency.

Statements by Al-Mahdi are the clearest indication to date over the gravity of reasons leading to demise of Gosh’s status within the government and the ruling party.

Government officials and NCP figures have avoided offering details of why Gosh was forced out from Bashir’s inner circle except to say that this was due to “internal reasons” but denied it was an indication of rift within Bashir’s NCP.

A few days before his dismissal, Gosh and powerful presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie clashed in the media over dialogue with opposition parties.

Nafie, who is the NCP deputy chairman, criticized in a radio interview the dialogue conducted by Gosh’s Presidential Security Advisory (PSA) with opposition parties, and said it was not sanctioned by the NCP’s leadership, prompting Gosh to retort a day later with assertions that his dialogue enjoys approval by Bashir and his Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha.

Some observers in Khartoum have speculated that Gosh was planning a coup against Bashir with the consent of the US administration while others linked his removal to an Israeli strike carried out in East Sudan against suspects arms smugglers in early April. The government claimed that Israel had informants on the ground who provided the intelligence to carry out the operation.

The Islamist opposition leader Hassan Al-Turabi who was just released from a 4-month detention today, suggested that Gosh was involved in a power struggle.

“The tyrant does not allow anyone to share power with him but he forgives the mischief. He who was sacked aspired for power, economic and political power and was fired the first time [as a result]. The second [time] he tried to cling to power and money and reinforce his position so he was fired,” Turabi said.

(ST)