A third party breaks partnership with al-Bashir regime, supports Sudanese protests

January 27, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – The Umma Federal Party (UFP) of Ahmed Babikir Nahar announced its withdrawal from the national consensus government and called on President Omer al-Bashir to step down pointing to the regime’s failure to provide the basic commodities to the people.

The National Front for Change (NFC) headed by Ghazi Salah al-Din and the Umma Party led by Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi announced on Tuesday 2 January their solidarity with the nationwide protests condemning the deteriorating economic conditions before to demand al-Bashir to step down.

The UFP, which is formed by a group of Darfurian that broke away from the National Umma Party, denounced on Sunday the government’s failure to implement the outcome of the national dialogue process and the rampant corruption in the country.

The government has been unable to provide the minimum of services to the people while it spends few resources of the country in the sector of governance and administration, security services and the war against its own citizens, said a statement released on Sunday.

Also, the UFP leader Nahar held a press conference in Khartoum where he confirmed their decision to break the 10-year partnership with the ruling party.

He stressed that all the party’s representatives in the government are determined to resign immediately, and join the forces of change, as he said.

The UFP has one ministry in the national government, Ministry of Culture, three state ministries in Darfur region. Also, it has 8 MPs at the National Assembly, one MP at the Council of States, and several representatives in the legislative assemblies of a number of states.

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However, some UFP officials rejected the decision to quit the government institutions and join the opposition.

The party’s Political Secretary and Minister of Culture, Omer Suleiman held a news conference on the same day announcing they reject the decision, saying it was taken by Nahar alone.

“The decision to participate in the National Consensus Government was taken by the General Conference of the party and that the lower party organs do not have the right to decide to break the partnership,” he said.

For his part, the assistant head of the party, Isaac Adam Bashir, told reporters that 30 leading members rejected the decision to the party’s chairman.

(ST)