Sudan 2nd VP accuses some opposition parties collaborating with rebels

June 22, 2013, (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese 2nd vice president, Al- Haj Adam Youssef, warned today that ballots are the only option for opposition to change the government and said that armed opposition will not make their own rules by force.

Youssef also stressed that the government will not allow any opposition parties to conduct their activities if it is done with the backing of the armed rebels.

On Friday, Sudan’s president Omer Hassan al-Bashir, who was speaking at the seventh session of the ruling National congress Party’s (NCP) Shura Council, urged opposition parties to get ready for the polls instead of working to overthrow the government.

Youssef, who was addressing the convention of the United Umma Party (UUP) on Saturday, vehemently attacked opposition forces accusing them of seeking to rule the country without having an agenda to achieve renaissance.

He went on to say that there are some opposition parties who coordinate with the armed rebel groups to overthrow the regime, describing those parties as “fifth column”.

The VP accused unidentified political forces whom he said “have exhausted all means to topple the government” of seeking to spread harmful habits aided by foreign groups.

He renewed the government’s call for political parties and armed groups to participate in drafting the new constitution, denying that NCP has sought to divide and weaken political parties.

Despite repeated calls by NCP to other political parties, most opposition forces chose not to take part in the constitution drafting process, accusing the ruling party of preparing it behind closed doors to impose its own agenda.

The Sudanese president vowed since South Sudan’s independence that the new constitution would be entirely Islamic “without communism or secularism or Western [influences]”.

Sudan is currently governed by an interim constitution which was ratified following signing the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) with South Sudan rebels.

Youssef renewed the government’s refusal to allow foreign aid groups to work in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, saying that they were involved in acts which violate Sudan’s sovereignty.

The Sudanese president had earlier barred aid agencies from providing humanitarian assistance in Blue Nile and neighboring South Kordofan on the basis that rebel fighters could benefit from the humanitarian assistance, namely in terms of food and logistical support.

The VP also demanded that the UUP to defend Islam and Sudan and participate in drafting the new constitution.

(ST)