UFP leader says splinters were forced to remain in al-Bashir government
January 28, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – The Head of the Umma Federal Party (UFP) Ahmed Babikir Nahar said that the Party’s ministers who refused to support the Sudanese street and to withdraw from the government had been forced to make their decision under pressure.
However, on the same day, the UFP’s Political Secretary Omer Suleiman who is also the Minister of Culture and other members rejected the decision saying it was taken by Nahar alone.
Reached by Sudan Tribune on Monday, Nahar said the decision o end their participation in the National Consensus Government led by President al-Bashir was taken unanimously by the 24-member leadership of the party
“No one objected to the decision during a meeting held on Saturday night,” Nahar said. “Omer Suleiman was the rapporteur of the meeting, drafted it and took the commitment to hand it on Sunday morning to Presidential Assistant Faisal Hassan Ibrahim,” he said.
“My personal assessment is that pressure has been exerted on them, and we are not disturbed by their position. But they are considered out of the (UFP)’s institution for rejecting a decision they signed themselves,” he added.
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.
For his part, a member of the UFP leadership office Nagem al-Din Adam Abdallah Dreesa, who is also the head of the Party in Central Darfur State, described the position of Suleiman and his other supporters as “personal and opportunistic and does not reflect the institution’s position.”
Dressa stressed the UFP’s cohesion in all the states of Darfur and the commitment of its bases to the decision of the leadership office to back the revolt of the Sudanese people.
Also, he asserted that it was not possible to dismiss the party’s chairman by the splinters.
Suleiman and his group, on Sunday also announced Nahar’s removal from the party leadership. The decision, in fact, means they decided to break away from his party.
The UFP is formed by a group of Darfurians that spilt from the National Umma Party led by Sadiq al-Mahdi about ten year ago.
Nahar’s UFP is the third political group to defect from the national dialogue government to back the six-week nationwide protests calling for al-Bashir’s resignation.
Since 2 January 2019, the National Front for Change (NFC) headed by Ghazi Salah al-Din and the Umma Party led by Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi have announced their solidarity with the protests and demanded al-Bashir to transfer power peacefully.
(ST)