Al-Turabi’s party rejects initiative to unify Islamists

October 17, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) has repudiated an initiative aiming to bring it back to the fold of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), saying that unity between Sudan’s Islamists is no longer a possibility.

A statement released on Monday by the PCP’s political secretariat said that the party rejects the initiative which started months ago in Sudan’s northern state of the Nile River, with the aim of reconciling NCP and PCP members.

The PCP split from the NCP following 1999’s bitter power struggle between president Al-Bashir and the Islamist leader Hassan Al-Turabi. After he was ousted from power, Al-Turabi established the PCP and has since been a vociferous critic of the very regime whose army-backed seizure of power in 1989 he orchestrated.

“Our party has been steadfast in rejecting dialogue with the NCP, and the [party’s] leadership has resolved to topple the regime that has become a mark of disgrace on the slate of the Islamic movement,” the PCP’s statement read.

This is the PCP’s first official reaction to the Nile River initiative which is led by a group of Islamists in the state in an effort to unify NCP and PCP ranks at the state level then take it to the broader level.

According to the PCP’s statement, the party has nothing to do with any efforts aimed at unifying ranks, saying that what was happening in the Nile River was merely a sign of a dying regime.

The PCP instructed its members in the Blue Nile not to be misled by the initiative, saying that the reasons which separated from the PCP were still-standing as the NCP continues to curtail freedom and spark crisis in Blue Nile, South Kordofan and Darfur.

(ST)