Sudan’s security agency asks for dissolution of Umma party: source

January 13, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) filed a request with the registrar of political parties to dissolve the National Umma Party (NUP) and ban its activities, a party official said.

The official who spoke to Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity said that NISS based its request on NUP chairman al-Sadiq al-Mahdi being a signatory to the ‘Paris Declaration’ and ‘Sudan Call’ accords with rebel groups.

The NUP is required to respond to NISS filing before the registrar makes a decision, the official added.

Last December, Sudanese political and armed opposition forces and civil society organizations signed the “Sudan Call” agreement in Addis Ababa which calls for ending the war, dismantling the one-party state, achieving a comprehensive peace and democratic transition in the country.

This was preceded by the signing of the “Paris Declaration” last August between the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) and the NUP which calls for a comprehensive solution involving all the political forces including rebel groups. It further stresses on the need to create a conducive environment in order to hold a genuine national dialogue.

Sudanese president Omer Hassan al-Bashir described the signatories as agents, traitors and mercenaries who sealed these deals with sponsorship of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad).

Bashir also vowed to try al-Mahdi, who has been based in Cairo since these accords, once he returns to Sudan for his alliance with SRF unless he disavows these agreements.

But al-Mahdi rejected these conditions and demanded a governmental apology for Bashir’s accusations.

This week Bashir’s assistant Ibrahim Ghandour said that al-Mahdi’s son Abdelrahman launched a new initiative to make amends between the president and the NUP chief.

“Abdelrahman is keen on cooperation between NUP and the National Congress Party (NCP),” Ghandour said.

Abdelrahman is also Bashir’s assistant since December 2011.

The NCP political secretary Hamid Mumtaz on Monday welcomed the initiative that would allow al-Mahdi to return home, expressing hope that all opposition leaders would work from inside Sudan to exercise their constitutional right.

But he stressed that al-Mahdi would first need distance himself from the two accords as Bashir demanded.

The NISS announced late last September that it intends to sue al-Mahdi for his activities that are deemed to be anti-Sudan.

At the time the NISS media department chief Mohammed Hamid Tabeedi said that this decision was made “after a thorough evaluation of the legal system and on the basis of information and documents available to the agency related to activities of al-Mahdi since the signing of the Paris Declaration.”

He asserted that the signing of the Paris Declaration and subsequent meetings subjects al-Mahdi to criminal proceedings, adding that they will file complaint against him within days.

(ST)