Umma breakaway party quits Sudan government

KHARTOUM, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Ministers from the Umma breakaway party resigned from Sudan’s national government accusing the ruling party of monopolising decision making, Tourism Minister Abdel Jelil al-Basha said on Sunday.

Fourteen ministers from the federal states and central government resigned after two months of failed talks with the government, he added.

The ministers joined Sudan’s ruling National Congress party, which dominates the cabinet and parliament, about two years ago after they split from Sudan’s largest opposition party, the Umma party.

“Fourteen ministers resigned from the government. Four ministers – the minister of information, myself, the state minister of finance and the state minister of foreign affairs, and 10 federal ministers,” Basha told Reuters on Sunday.

The head of the Umma breakaway party, Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi, was sacked from his role as presidential adviser in October, prompting the party to split, with many members threatening to resign while others preferred to stay in government.

An agreement was reached with the National Congress party for the coalition to remain intact, but Basha says the government was never serious about implementing the deal.

“We spent two months chasing them but we found that they were not serious about implementing the agreement. So finally, the party decided to pull out from the government,” he said.

“They did not want us to participate in decision making,” he added.

Sudan has a central cabinet of around 40 ministers and state ministers and the split is unlikely to further weaken the government, which has already been wracked by more than two decades of civil war in Sudan’s south.

A newer conflict in its western Darfur region has brought intense international pressure on the central government to share more power with other regions of Africa’s largest country.

But analysts say the failure to implement the agreement signed with the Umma breakaway party is likely to give ammunition to Darfur rebels, who accuse Khartoum of failing to implement already signed security and humanitarian protocols.