Freed Islamist leader vows to continue seeking regime change in Sudan
April 3, 2013 (KHARTOUM) – The leader of the Islamic Wasat Party Yousif al-Koda, who was released from prison earlier this week as part of a presidential amnesty appeared unapologetic about his anti-government sentiments stressing that he is determined to help bring about a regime change dominated by the National Congress Party (NCP).
“We can’t talk about dialogue while political parties are unable to organize seminars and political rallies because of laws restricting freedoms, arrests [by authorities], and lack of freedom of speech” Al-Koda said.
“Dialogue is not just talk, it is a process which has dues” he added.
However he doubted the government’s seriousness in creating a climate conducive to dialogue saying that he didn’t deserve imprisonment saying he should have been rewarded even if he had engaged in dialogue “with the devil”.
The outspoken Islamist figure was arrested last January at Khartoum airport upon his return from a trip abroad where he officially joined the ranks of the opposition seeking to topple the government led by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir.
He had signed a joint statement in the Ugandan capital Kampala with the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) chairman Malik Agar who acted as representative of the signatories to the “New Dawn” charter.
The SRF is comprised of several rebel groups fighting the Sudanese army on several fronts in Darfur, South Kordofan, Blue Nile and occasionally in other areas such as North Kordofan.
Its notable members include Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) led by Malik Agar, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) led by Gibreel Ibrahim, Sudan Liberation Movement of Abdul-Wahid Nur (SLM-AW) and Sudan Liberation Movement of Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM).
Last January a number of Sudanese opposition parties along with SRF signed the “New Dawn” charter which calls for the toppling of the Bashir government, preventing the exploitation of religion in politics and restructuring the state’s institutions such as the army and security services to make them national non-partisan ones.
Al-Koda fell short of signing the agreement but expressed support to many of its provisions that was included in the joint statement he signed in Uganda with SRF chairman.
Today he also praised the SRF leaders saying that they enjoy high Islamic morals and values.
“I met the leader of Justice and Equality Movement Gibreel Ibrahim and head of Sudan Liberation Movement Minni Arco Minnawi, Abdul-Wahid Mohammed Nur and Malik Agar….. I told authorities that they are Sudanese Muslims whose hands are always holding beads and even if they were Christians I would have went to them as well,” the party leader said.
” I went there for a religious duty before being a national duty and must rewarded for this move….If the government doesn’t mind receiving envoys of Kufr (blasphemous) countries then it might as well negotiate with Sudanese opponents with whom it shares the country and religion” Al-Koda said.
Al-Koda defended his signing of Kampala statement, recounting that he went to the Ugandan capital at the invitation of the SRF’s leading figure Al-Tom Hago revealing that he managed to persuade signatories of the “New Dawn” charter not to rush to decide on the issue of the relationship between religion and state and leave it for approval by a future constitutional conference,
“I went to Uganda to fulfill a religious duty in the first place, a national duty in the second place and I should be rewarded for this move” he reiterated.
The Sudanese government launched a fierce media campaign against the charter and detained some of the parties’ representatives who attended the signing upon their return to Khartoum. Some officials even threatened to ban and prosecute all parties that joined the agreement unless they officially dissociated themselves from it.
Al-Koda denied being subjected to physical torture but said he was subjected to psychological torture by depriving him of performing Friday prayers for the entire seven weeks he was in jail.
He also called on SPLM – N not to engage in bilateral negotiations with the NCP, saying that negotiation process should include the entire opposition forces in order to decide on the future of the country and the peoples adding that the only alternative for comprehensive dialogue is tribal and regional conflicts.
(ST)