Al-Bashir discourse was full of empty-promises: Sudanese opposition

March 1, 2019 (KHARTOUM) – The speech of President al-Bashir to the parliament was full of empty-promises without concrete measures to tackle the political and economic crises in Sudan, said the leader of the Sudanese Congress Party, on Monday.

Omer al-Digair was reacting to a statement made by President Omer al-Bashir before the National Assembly on Monday morning where he admitted that the economic demands of protesters were legitimate and vowed to undertake structural reforms.

“The speech is full of promises to establish a state of law, reform the civil service, reform the state structures, fight corruption, promise to respect human rights, the pursuit of efforts to achieve peace and other promises,” said al-Digair.

“What did the regime do for the past 30 years of harsh rule to discover now all this destruction that needs to be repaired ?!” he further asked.

The opposition leader went further to enumerate the vital matters that the president missed or omitted in his speech saying he didn’t address the ongoing crisis in Sudan, did not announce a commission of inquiry on the killing of peaceful protesters, did not speak about the political prisoners arbitrarily held in jail.

He added that al-Bashir called for a national dialogue while the emergency law is declared to confiscate the right to freedom of opinion and other fundamental freedoms.

“The regime has no solutions to the current crisis. The only thing it has is a pot full of boiling water and stones like that one used to sleep hungry children,” he said.

The Sudanese opposition is calling to demonstrate on 6 April to mark the 34th anniversary of the 6 April Uprising in 1985. The demonstration comes in the context of the over three-month protests calling for regime change.

President al-Bashir for his part calls on the opposition to join his national dialogue platform adopted in 2016.

(ST)