Sudan ministers give govt three days to meet demands
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Cabinet allies of an aide dismissed by the Sudanese president gave the ruling party three days on Saturday to grant them a greater say in policy, or else they will tender their resignations to the president.
If they cannot reach a deal, the group will end all participation in the government, meaning the resignation of about nine ministers and senior officials and around 25 people in lower governmental posts, they said. Only one state governor said he would stay with the government, they added.
On Wednesday President Omar Hassan al-Bashir dismissed top aide Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi, whose breakaway faction of the opposition Umma Party joined the government about two years ago.
Government officials said the dismissal was over differences of opinion but Mahdi, cousin to former Prime Minister and mainstream Umma Party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, said powerful First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha had him sacked because he had objected to Taha and a small group’s dominance over decision-making.
The ministers of information and tourism, both part of Mubarak al-Mahdi’s group in government, told reporters on Saturday all ministers and senior officials in the Umma breakaway party would resign if the ruling National Congress party did not give them more say in government policy.
Sudan has a large cabinet of more than 40 ministers and presidential advisers which is dominated by the National Congress.
GOVERNMENT DIVIDED OVER DARFUR
“The main problem is participation,” Tourism Minister Abdel Jelil al-Basha told Reuters. “After these 72 hours either we participate really in Sudanese issues or we will pull out.”
Asked if the party would insist on the reinstatement of Mubarak al-Mahdi, Basha said it was among the issues to be discussed. Analysts said Mahdi was unlikely to regain his post.
Basha said that in the interests of the unity of the nation the group had not yet cut ties with the government, which is under pressure to resolve civil wars in the west and south.
The government, which says it has uncovered three attempts to destabilise it in the past six months, is weakened and divided over how to respond to international demands that it stop the conflict in the western Darfur region, analysts say.
The United States has branded the violence in Darfur a genocide and the United Nations has threatened sanctions if the government does not end the fighting.
The situation in Darfur also threatens to undermine peace talks to end the separate, 21-year-old civil war in south Sudan. The talks reconvened on Thursday after a long break.
Analysts said the government, also in talks to woo back exiled opposition parties in Cairo, could be seeking a reconciliation with Sadiq al-Mahdi, the last democratically elected leader of Sudan who was overthrown by Bashir in a bloodless coup in 1989.
Mubarak al-Mahdi split from Sadiq’s Umma party before joining the government, causing a deep rift between the cousins.