Sudan’s NCP shuffles top leadership positions amid growing pressure for reforms
February 23, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) held a meeting chaired by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir that lasted until the early morning hours of Thursday and approved a series of changes to the leadership positions which saw several senior figures giving up their long-held posts.
Bashir’s powerful assistant Nafie Ali Nafie is no longer heading the NCP’s Organizational Secretariat and was replaced by Hamed Sideeg who is a longtime member of the Islamist movement and a rapporteur at the party’s leadership council and the Islamist Shura council.
The head of the NCP politburo Qutbi al-Mahdi saw his position given to Sudanese 2nd Vice President Haj Adam Yousef. The former chief of the country’s Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) Hasabu Mohamed Abdel-Rahman was appointed to lead the political relations bureau.
Abdel-Rahman is a leading figure from South Darfur and was believed to be a one of the candidates to become governor of the newly established East Darfur state. He was accused of mishandling billions of Sudanese pounds during his term in HAC but he was never charged or investigated.
The veteran Islamist figure and the current oil minister Awad al-Jaz was replaced as NCP’s Economic Secretariat chief by former governor of Sudan’s central bank Sabir Ahmed al-Hassan. The latter is also one of Khartoum’s lead negotiators in the oil talks with South Sudan.
Amin Hassan Omer, who is in charge of overseeing the implementation of Darfur peace accord signed last year, has taken over from Ibrahim Ahmed Omer in the Culture and Intellect bureau at the ruling party.
Ibrahim Ghandour and Mustafa Osman Ismail maintained their positions in the External Relations and Media bureaus respectively.
The NCP’s Vice Chairman Nafie described the restructuring as part of the change process and vowed that this will continue whenever necessary and wished luck for the “young” faces.
Nizar Khaled Mahjoub, a member of the NCP political bureau, said the aim of the changes was to reset mentalities adding that there are reform issues that need to be addressed requiring political will from high up.
He added that the shuffling was one of the outcomes of the NCP Refresher convention that took place last November.
Last month, news of a mysterious reform memos drafted by unnamed members of the NCP and the Islamist Movement leaked to the media underscored the urgency of addressing widespread corruption, establishing a citizenship-based state and banning the combination of party positions with constitutional positions.
The Sudanese president dismissed these memos in a TV interview this month saying that those behind the memos would be held accountable if known.
The secession of South Sudan last July meant that Khartoum lost about three-quarters of its oil, the main source of state revenues and hard currency. The Sudanese pound has slumped by as much as 70 percent below the official rate. Annual inflation is at 18 percent as the cost of food imports has shot up. Wars against insurgencies in different parts of the still-vast country have also soaked up government funds.
Many ordinary citizens say that they have been forced to give up certain food items as they are unable to keep up with rising prices.
Military sources revealed to Sudan Tribune in January that 700 officers within the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) warned Bashir and his defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein against rushing to war with South Sudan citing challenges facing the army. Tensions between the two countries have grown dramatically over a dispute on oil, borders and alleged support of rebel groups.
Furthermore, the NCP is feeling pressure of Arab Spring sweeping the region that saw the toppling of deeply entrenched regimes in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt.
But there is no indication of similar move in Sudan despite the outbreak of several small demonstrations in the last few months protesting deteriorating public services.
However in recent weeks the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) have stepped up their arrests of activists as well as students and closing down newspapers including one this week.
(ST)