Sudan’s opposition SCP confirms suspension of 5 members

November 7, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The political secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), Mohamed Mukhtar al-Khatib acknowledged that the central committee has suspended five party members.

He said in a press release Saturday that media reports on the issue were not accurate, stressing they have exaggerated the central committee’s decision.

“In its meeting on Friday, October 30th, the central committee received information that five members of the party had held a meeting outside the regulatory frameworks to discuss internal issues,” he said.

“The central committee addressed the issue according to the party’s constitution and suspended the concerned colleagues and formed a fact-finding commission,” he added without naming the suspended members.

Al-Khatib stressed that the central committee had informed the concerned party organs and areas of the decision.

Press reports in Khartoum on Monday pointed that the suspension included 20 members among them al-Shafie Khidir, Hatim Gattan, Mohamed Suleiman, Faisal Bashir and Hashim Tolub.

It attributed to sources that the central committee issued the decision ahead of the 6th convention in order to avoid attempts led by Khidir and Gattan to win over the youths members to change the current leadership.

The same sources emphasized that 18 out of 23 members of the central committee who have attended the meeting voted in favour of the recent decisions while 5 others voted against it.

It should be noted that Hatim Gattan and al-Shafie Khidir, who is currently staying in Egypt, have not yet received the suspension decision.

Differences have escalated within the SCP ahead of the party’s 6th convention following large demands for deep reforms including changing the name of the party.

The SCP was established in 1946 under the name of the “Anti Colonialism Front” and it was later known as the “Sudanese Movement for National Liberation” before its final name was adopted in 1956.

(ST)