Al-Mahdi seeks to ride wave of revolution: says Sudan ruling party
January 26, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday accused opposition National Umma Party (NUP) leader Sadiq al-Mahdi of trying to “ride the wave of revolution after hesitation.”
On Friday, al-Mahdi backed anti-government protests which have erupted across the country since 19 December and called for the resignation of President Omer al-Bashir.
The NCP deputy head of the organization sector, Hamdi Suleiman, in statements to Al-Sudani newspaper Saturday denounced slammed al-Mhadi for signing a joint document with the “unknown” leaders of Sudanese Professionals Association( SPA), saying it aims to propagate hatred and exclusion.
“No revolution can be staged by an unknown leader,” he said about the clandestine group of youth who coordinate the demonstrations.
Mahdi “wants to ride the wave of demonstrations and revolution after long hesitation and after describing it with descriptions that provoked the ridicule of the Sudanese people,” he further added.
He further said that joining the SPA will disadvantage Mahdi who returned to the country since a month ago after threats by the government for forming a political alliance with the armed groups to negotiate a peaceful solution.
The SPA, the Gathering of Unionists in Opposition, National Consensus Forces and the Sudan Call which is led by Sadiq al-Mahadi are the four alliances of the Sudanese opposition which signed in early January a joint declaration to support the peaceful protests for regime change in Sudan.
The same groups drafted a national charter for a transitional period and now are consulting with other political groups to join it before to make it public in the coming days.
Suleiman termed the SPA as “an exclusionary group and will not offer political solutions to the country.”
He went further to say that there to political circles which want to ride the protests to achieve “cheap” goals, they failed to achieve through the (national) dialogue or elections.
Also, he rejected calls for the resignation of President Omer al-Bashir saying it does not fit with the “national dialogue project”.
“Any (political) change is in the hands of the people through the ballot box,” he stressed.
President al-Bashir who was preparing to amend the constitution for his re-election for a third term has rejected calls to step down and called for the opposition to challenge him in the elections of 2020.
The opposition groups for their part refuse the call saying peace and democratic reforms should be achieved first before to hold free and fair elections.
(ST)