Sudan’s Umma party freezes internal bodies, will operate underground: source
January 18, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The opposition National Umma Party (NUP) has agreed to freeze the work of its internal bodies and will operate secretly in the wake of the government’s move to dissolve the party, a senior NUP source told Sudan Tribune.
The source, who requested anonymity, said that the proposal saw stiff resistance from current Secretary General Sara Nugdalla and group loyal to ex-SG Sideeg Ismail. Both ended up withdrawing from the meeting to express their disapproval of the move.
This week it was revealed that the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) filed a request since last December with the Council of Political parties to dissolve the NUP on the grounds that al-Mahdi is a signatory to the ‘Paris Declaration’ and ‘Sudan Call’ accords with rebel groups stressing that it calls for dismantling the one-party state and mobilising all forces “to change the existing constitutional order in the country that carries a military aspect”.
The NISS said in its complaint that alliance with rebels violates Sudan interim constitution of 2005 and Political Parties Act of 2007.
It further said that these accords should be regarded as direct moral support that adopts the approach of military action carried out by rebel bearing arms against the existing constitutional system contrary to the obligations imposed on it by the Constitution and the law on the peaceful transfer of power through elections .
“Supporting them (the rebels) from the NUP is inconsistent with the provisions of the constitution and the law,” reads the NISS filing seen by Sudan Tribune
“Based on the aforementioned, we ask your esteemed council to exercise and effect your authority contained in articles 10, 13, 14, and 19 of the Political Parties Act”.
The articles referenced by NISS states that a political party would be deprived from contesting in elections or have its activities frozen or be dissolved through an order of the Constitutional Court based on a lawsuit filed by a two-third majority of Council of Political Parties.
The NUP deputy chairman Fadlallah Burma said on Wednesday that they are preparing legal and political arguments refuting the NISS demand.
Burma called this move a “violation of the constitution and bypassing democracy”.
On Saturday, opposition parties the house of late PM Ismail al-Azhari expressed solidarity with the NUP in face of dissolution threats.
The Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) and NUP held a meeting today and issued a joint statement expressing their rejection of the dissolution request calling it a breach of an inherent constitutional right for a old party exercising its right with “responsibility and patriotism”.
Last December, Sudanese political and armed opposition forces and civil society organisations 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 the accords, once he returns to Sudan for his alliance with SRF unless he disavows these agreements.
But al-Mahdi rejected these conditions and demanded an apology for Bashir’s accusations.
(ST)