Former Bashir aide rejects calls for national unity government

July 23, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Former presidential assistant Nafei Ali Nafei has rejected opposition calls for a national unity government during a transitional period, saying it wouldn’t be possible to dismantle the regime after 25 years.

“Deluded; those who think that after 25 years of rule we will work to remove the screws of the regime and put it on a table at the Friendship Hall for dialogue with the seculars and brothers of Satan,” Nafie said in a public meeting in While Nile state’s Kapoushia.

Nafei was removed from his positions in the government and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in a cabinet reshuffle last December one month before the announcement of the national dialogue initiative by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir.

However, contrary to other leading officials who lost their ministerial positions with him, Nafei remains active and holds political meetings organised by the party.

He further confirmed the existence of “substantial rapprochement” with the opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) led by Hassan al-Turabi on all the issues.

On the other hand, he pointed to the “ambiguity” in the position of the National Umma Party (NUP) from the national dialogue.

Nafie said the positions of the political forces from the national dialogue process depend on their support to the Islamic or secular state in Sudan.

The NUP last May suspended its participation in the national dialogue after the arrest of its leader Sadiq al-Mahdi. Since, the opposition party demands to review the process and calls connect the constitutional reforms with the peace process.

The party of the former prime minister and leader of al-Ansar brotherhood, al-Mahdi, is the only conservative party that stands out of the national dialogue process. Besides the ruling NCP, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani, the PCP and the Reform Now Movement (RNM) are participating in the political process.

The umbrella National Consensus Forces (NCF) which refuses to participate in the process, now gathers only the left parties.

The PCP and RNM splinted from the ruling party in 1999 and 2013 respectively, but they say they stick to their demand for freedom of expression, postponement of 2015 elections, and the formation of a national unity government.

(ST)