Al-Bashir appoints Ahmed Haroun acting chairman of Sudan’s ruling party
February 28, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir who is also the leader of the ruling party has appointed the deputy chairman of the National Congress Party (NCP) as the acting chairman of the majority party in a move indicating as he is preparing to move away from the party.
As a result of the nationwide protests that continue for more than two months, al-Bashir sacked his government and the NCP leadership as they appeared unable to defend his government programme and realisations
Following its weekly leadership meeting held on Thursday, the party confirmed the appointed of the former North Kordofan Governor Ahmed Haroun as the NCP deputy chairman replacing Faisal Hassan Ibrahim.
Speaking after the meeting, Haroun who indicted of by the war crimes court in The Hague told reporters that the president informed the meeting of his decision to him as the acting chairman of the party.
“The meeting took note of the decision of the President of the Republic, the Chairman of the Party, to delegate his powers and responsibilities to the party’s Deputy Chairman, Ahmed Haroun, to lead the party and conduct the organizational activities so that the President can devote himself to the national tasks expressed in his speech to the nation last Friday,” he said.
On Friday 22 February, al-Bashir said asked the parliament to stop considering constitutional amendments to allow his re-election for a new term.
He added that he would stand at the same distance from all the political forces and called for a national dialogue on the basis of the National Document of the dialogue conference held on October 2016.
The head of the National Intelligence and Security Services, Salah Gosh on the same day said al-Bashir would abandon the chairmanship of the ruling party and continue as President of the Republic so that the party can nominate another candidate for the 2020 elections.
Haroun said the party renewed its support for the presidential call for a new dialogue in the country based on the National Document adding that it can be opened for discussion and to build on it.
Haroun further stressed the NCP readiness to engage dialogue with all the political forces to achieve national reconciliation and to speed up the negotiations with the armed groups.
The opposition forces rejected the presidential call for a new dialogue with the regime and called on al-Bashir to step down, as they propose the formation of a transitional national unity government to end armed conflicts and achieve democratic reforms before to hold new elections.
(ST)