Sudan’s opposition urges citizens to prepare for “decisive battle” with regime

December 18, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The coalition of mainstream opposition parties in Sudan, the National Consensus Forces (NCF), has reiterated its commitment to topple the regime of president Omer Al-Bashir by all legitimate means, urging citizens across the country to prepare for a “decisive battle”.

The NCF made its call in “Omdurman Political Declaration”, which it issued on Tuesday following a meeting of its leaders at the headquarters of the National Umma Party (NUP) in Omdurman. Besides the NUP, the NCF comprises the Islamist Popular Congress Party and the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) among others.

In the declaration, NCF termed the proposed 2013 budget as “a war not a development” budget, citing the fact that it allocates 8 billion Sudanese pounds to defense and security while giving only 1 billion to health and education. The opposition coalition said the budget also contains increased government spending which debunks government claims about austerity.

The declaration warned that the country was rapidly sliding towards the brink of collapse due to the government’s policies of corruption, repression, social and ethnic injustices as well as economic deterioration.

The NCF held the government of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) responsible for the secession of South Sudan, the war in the western region of Darfur and the southern regions of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, plus the state of “cold war” with South Sudan.

The NCF declared its strong support for the “legitimate” demands of the people of Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Abyei. It further condemned the death of four Darfur students at Al-Gazira University in Madani this month, calling for an immediate investigation into the killing that activists blame security authorities for.

NCF chairman Farouq Abu Issa was briefly detained last week for speaking against the death of the students which sparked demonstrations across the country’s universities.

(ST)