Islamic Movement urges Sudanese to overcome differences

June 17, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The secretary-general of the pro-government Sudanese Islamic Movement (IM), al-Zubair Mohamed al-Hassan, has called for giving the national dialogue a religious dimension in order to overcome the tensions in some parts of the country.

Al-Hassan , who hosted a Ramadan breakfast in his house Tuesday in the presence of the first vice president, Bakri Hassan Salah and the second vice-president, Hassabo Mohamed Abdel-Rahman and some leaders of the Sufi orders, called for overcoming differences among Sudanese people calmly.

“We should leave behind our personal, institutional, organizational and sectarian affiliations and resort to the essence of Islam which unites us,” he said.

He demanded offering forgiveness to the other, pointing that tolerating the other and cooperating with him is part of the good manners and good treatment.

The secretary-general of the IM stressed the need to apply the religious values of good manners and acceptance of the other to the national dialogue, adding we must forget our differences and seek to reach objective and rational understandings.

President Omer al-Bashir launched a national dialogue initiative in January 2014 in which he urged opposition parties and rebels alike to join the dialogue table to discuss all the pressing issues.

He added that we must agree to coexist on the bases of love that is driven from Islam, good manners and good treatment and tolerance to move Sudan ahead and end conflicts in some parts of the country so that security and stability could be achieved across the country.

The government has been fighting Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North (SPLM-N) in Blue Nile and South Kordofan since 2011 and Darfur rebels since 2003

Al-Hassan also called upon the attendees to cooperate in order to give the poor in the mosque schools (Khalwa), religious lodges, streets and neighbourhoods, appealing to the various Islamic parties to cooperate in charity work.

The IM was created by Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP), following the 1999 schism with its former leader Hassan al-Turabi and his supporters who formed the Popular Congress Party (PCP).

The IM was designed to exist as a parallel and broader political base to support the Islamist orientation of the NCP regime and rally Sufi and radical Islamist groups under its umbrella, while excluding the PCP.

(ST)