Sudanese govt releases 38 opposition PCP members
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Jan 21, 2005 (AP) — The Sudanese government has released 38 members of the Popular Congress opposition party (PCP), including a senior leader, state media reported Friday.
The release was seen as a gesture by the government toward rebels in Darfur, who the government is courting in an attempt to resolve the ongoing conflict that has killed tens of thousands. However, the government continues to detain Popular Congress party secretary Hassan Turabi and 12 other party members who are accused of plotting a coup to topple President Omar el-Bashir.
The official Sudan Media Center reported that authorities have released 38 members of the Popular Congress party since Tuesday, including Secretary for External Relations Mohamed Amin Khalifa, after investigations showed a “lack of sufficient evidence to charge them.”
Musa Mac Kor, Popular Congress deputy secretary, said that though the release was a “positive indicator,” the government still needed to take actions such as lifting a state of emergency and canceling laws restricting freedoms before talks about “peace and of detente” could be held.
The armed wing of the Popular Congress Party, the Justice and Equality Movement, is one of the main rebel groups in Darfur that continues to oppose government forces. The government is pushing reconciliation efforts in Darfur after successfully signing a peace agreement with separate southern rebels earlier this month to end 21 years of civil war.
Khalifa was a member of a military council that brought Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir to power in June 1989. Khalifa later served in the government for over 10 years, but he abandoned Bashir and joined Turabi after a split between the two.
Turabi, the Islamic ideologue and party leader who remains under house arrest, fell out of favor with Bashir after the president accused his former aide was trying to make a grab for power. “We have not been given any clue on whether the Sheikh (Turabi) would be released or not,” said Kor.
Earlier this week Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said his ruling party had formed a committee to contact “all political parties” to form a national consensus, indicating a potential thaw in relations between the parties. Last week he said the government would soon have no political detainees.
Kor said authorities released Khalifa early on Friday in Khartoum. He said the others were released on Wednesday and Thursday and that no one had been given a reason for their release. Among those released was Turabi’s son, Sideeq Hassan, and former state minister for defense Omar Abdel Maroof.
Turabi was first detained some three years ago after his party announced it signed an agreement with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, which was battling government forces at the time. He was released briefly and then detained again after his party was accused of supporting the Justice and Equality Movement.
The government has said it will now focus to resolve the Darfur conflict, which wasn’t covered in the peace agreement signed with southern rebels. Some 70,000 of nearly 2 million displaced people in the Darfur conflict have died from disease and famine since March 2004.
Authorities arrested about 70 people in November and October last year in connection with the alleged coup attempt. Thirteen of the arrested were opposition party members.
Since September and October last year scores of people have been arrested in connection with alleged coup plots. Scores of other Popular Congress party members were interrogated but not presented to court.