Sudan’s VP Taha suggests Bashir could run for a new term
November 6, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha said that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) will ultimately decide whether president Omer Hassan al-Bashir would run for a new term in 2015 or not.
Bashir, who has been president since staging a coup in 1989, has repeatedly said that he plans to make this term his last. However, last June he appeared to back off from his earlier assertions and hinted that he could run again.
VP Taha said in an interview aired today on Doha-based al-Jazeera TV that Bashir genuinely does not want to apply for a new term.
"I know that he does not want to continue ruling, but the decision is up to the party and the people," he said.
He criticized the reformists within the party who submitted a memo to Bashir saying that they presented no solutions in lieu of lifting fuel subsidies which the government implemented in late September.
Taha went on to say that any respectable political party mandates that its members express their objections from within and not to the public.
The signatories to the petition which included lawmakers and retired army officers, called for reinstating the subsidies due to its "harsh" impact on ordinary Sudanese and demanded that the government prosecute those behind the use excessive violence against protestors.
The violent clashes erupted between demonstrators and security forces following government’s decision to remove fuel subsidies lead to about 84 deaths, according to official figures, although activists, rights groups and opposition parties put the death toll at more than 200.
The signatories also urged Bashir to form a mechanism for national reconciliation comprised of various political forces and assign the economic dossier to a professional national economic team.
"The legitimacy of your rule has never been at stake like it is today" they said in their letter to Bashir which was seen as a direct challenge to the president who is now the country’s longest serving leader.
An NCP commission of inquiry established by Bashir recommended the dismissal of the top reformist figure and ex-presidential adviser Ghazi Salah Al-Deen Al-Attabani along with two other members and the suspension of nine others for one calendar year.
The NCP leadership bureau afterwards endorsed the recommendations and referred the matter to the NCP Shura (consultative) Council to review and issue a binding decision.
Al-Attabani and other dismissed members announced afterwards their intention to form a new party which was downplayed by the NCP as having little significance.
VP Taha said that divergent views in any political body could generate debate and brainstorming but claimed that some do not respect institutional process.
"Our problem [as Sudanese] is that we have no patience on political practice in the framework of institutions. People cannot tolerate that the decision be with institutions and not individuals" he said.
He disclosed that a cabinet reshuffle will be announced within two weeks and that opposition parties may be given major ministerial posts depending on outcome of dialogue with them.
Taha said that Bashir is leading the reform process himself and that the reshuffle is part of that.
He denied that corruption is being protected by the state and stressed that anyone proven to be corrupt will be prosecuted.
Asked about Sudan’s position regarding the ouster of Egypt’s president Mohamed Morsi, Taha reiterated that this is an internal matter.
However he warned that any attempt to exclude Islam or Islamists from the political life will "fail".
"Islam is the way out for the people in the region and we do not care about threats of any party," Taha responded when asked if Cairo could view his remarks as a threat to them.
Sudan’s Islamist government has appeared uncomfortable with the developments in Egypt given the common ideology they shared with Morsi and the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) which brought him to power.
Khartoum insisted that it is neutral to the change in Egypt and that it an internal matter.
(ST)
Art, socialogy of Blue Nile Sate, Handcraftmanship, traditions and social life, agriculture and history.
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Saturday, 2 November 2013
The three renegades.
Sudan Islamist scholars form Movement for Change
(Globalpost/GlobalPost)
Sudanese Islamist scholars have formed a National Movement for Change that hopes to lead a search for alternatives to the country's "failed" political system, a member said Thursday.
"We are calling on other people from different political or cultural (groups) or think tanks to join us to try to find a new way for Sudan," Khalid Tigani, one of about 10 members of the group, told AFP.
He said the movement is not a political party and that a convention will later decide what form it will take.
The Movement for Change is the latest sign of public frustration with the 24-year regime of President Omar al-Bashir, who seized power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.
Critics have become increasingly vocal since the government in September slashed fuel price subsidies, leading to the worst urban unrest of Bashir's rule.
Security forces are believed to have killed more than 200 demonstrators, many of whom were shot in the head or chest, Amnesty International said.
Authorities reported 60 to 70 deaths, saying they had to intervene when crowds turned violent, attacking petrol stations and police.
Hundreds of people were detained, but the government says most have been released.
Analysts said the spontaneous demonstrations pointed to an urgent need for reform by a government grappling with wars, internal dissent, economic crisis and international isolation.
Tigani said the current government is part of the broken system but "not the whole story".
"We are saying that the old Sudanese political system completely failed," since independence from Britain and Egypt on January 1, 1956, he said.
Since then the country has undergone two popular revolutions and at least seven coups or attempted coups, with interludes of parliamentary government.
Sudan's main opposition leaders have been on the political scene for decades and are widely discounted as alternatives in the current environment.
The country fell into economic crisis after South Sudan became independent two years ago following a peace deal that ended 22 years of civil war.
Khartoum lost billions of dollars in export earnings when the South split with most of Sudan's oil production.
The country ranks near the bottom of international indexes of corruption, human development and press freedom.
Tigani said there is "deep polarisation" in the political sphere.
"We are trying to open a very wide, broad discussion about the whole political experiment of Sudan during the last 60 years," said Tigani, chief editor of the weekly economic newspaper Elaff.
He was an activist in the National Islamic Front party which engineered the 1989 coup.
Creation of the scholars' movement follows a separate announcement last Saturday that more than 30 prominent reformers within the ruling National Congress (NCP) would form a new political party.
The NCP had sought to expel three leaders of the reformist faction after it issued a memorandum to Bashir saying the government's response to the fuel-price protests betrayed its Islamic foundations.
Former presidential adviser Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani was lead signatory to the memorandum.
It sought an independent probe of the shooting of civilians, and a reversal of the fuel price increases.
The reformers also called for "professionals" to take over economic policy, an end to press censorship, and respect for constitutional freedoms including peaceful assembly.
Bashir has said the protests were part of an effort to end his rule, using "agents, thieves and hijackers."
On Monday he told parliament that reform and change "is a daily process for us", and repeated a call for a broad dialogue with all political parties, even with armed rebels who are fighting in the Darfur region as well as South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, crimes gainst humanity and genocide in the Darfur region.
(Globalpost/GlobalPost)
Sudanese Islamist scholars have formed a National Movement for Change that hopes to lead a search for alternatives to the country's "failed" political system, a member said Thursday.
"We are calling on other people from different political or cultural (groups) or think tanks to join us to try to find a new way for Sudan," Khalid Tigani, one of about 10 members of the group, told AFP.
He said the movement is not a political party and that a convention will later decide what form it will take.
The Movement for Change is the latest sign of public frustration with the 24-year regime of President Omar al-Bashir, who seized power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.
Critics have become increasingly vocal since the government in September slashed fuel price subsidies, leading to the worst urban unrest of Bashir's rule.
Security forces are believed to have killed more than 200 demonstrators, many of whom were shot in the head or chest, Amnesty International said.
Authorities reported 60 to 70 deaths, saying they had to intervene when crowds turned violent, attacking petrol stations and police.
Hundreds of people were detained, but the government says most have been released.
Analysts said the spontaneous demonstrations pointed to an urgent need for reform by a government grappling with wars, internal dissent, economic crisis and international isolation.
Tigani said the current government is part of the broken system but "not the whole story".
"We are saying that the old Sudanese political system completely failed," since independence from Britain and Egypt on January 1, 1956, he said.
Since then the country has undergone two popular revolutions and at least seven coups or attempted coups, with interludes of parliamentary government.
Sudan's main opposition leaders have been on the political scene for decades and are widely discounted as alternatives in the current environment.
The country fell into economic crisis after South Sudan became independent two years ago following a peace deal that ended 22 years of civil war.
Khartoum lost billions of dollars in export earnings when the South split with most of Sudan's oil production.
The country ranks near the bottom of international indexes of corruption, human development and press freedom.
Tigani said there is "deep polarisation" in the political sphere.
"We are trying to open a very wide, broad discussion about the whole political experiment of Sudan during the last 60 years," said Tigani, chief editor of the weekly economic newspaper Elaff.
He was an activist in the National Islamic Front party which engineered the 1989 coup.
Creation of the scholars' movement follows a separate announcement last Saturday that more than 30 prominent reformers within the ruling National Congress (NCP) would form a new political party.
The NCP had sought to expel three leaders of the reformist faction after it issued a memorandum to Bashir saying the government's response to the fuel-price protests betrayed its Islamic foundations.
Former presidential adviser Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani was lead signatory to the memorandum.
It sought an independent probe of the shooting of civilians, and a reversal of the fuel price increases.
The reformers also called for "professionals" to take over economic policy, an end to press censorship, and respect for constitutional freedoms including peaceful assembly.
Bashir has said the protests were part of an effort to end his rule, using "agents, thieves and hijackers."
On Monday he told parliament that reform and change "is a daily process for us", and repeated a call for a broad dialogue with all political parties, even with armed rebels who are fighting in the Darfur region as well as South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, crimes gainst humanity and genocide in the Darfur region.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)