New Islamists’ memo calls for civil state in Sudan
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January 26, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – A group of individuals describing
themselves as veteran members of the National Islamic Front (NIF) have
released a memo calling for the renouncement of the rule of its
offshoot, the National Congress Party (NCP), and the establishment of
a civil state.
JPEG - 29.2 kb
Sudan’s president Omer Al-Bashir prays alongside some of his senior
aides following his re-election on 26 April 2010 (AP)
The new memo, dubbed ’milestones in the road of reform and
development’, had been prepared since February but was only released
to the media on Thursday.
Its under-signatories, who kept their names anonymous, identified
themselves as people who have “spent decades in the service of the NIF
in Sudan”, and whose efforts were “squandered” as a result of the
NIF’s military coup in 1989 and the lust for power that split it into
the NCP and the Popular Congress Party (PCP) of Hassan al-Turabi.
Sources told Sudan Tribune that the people behind the memo represent
elite Islamist writers and thinkers who preferred to go on the
sideline after the NIF took power and during the power struggle
between the PCP and the NCP.
The difference between this memo and the previous ones which called
for internal reforms is that the new memo calls on NIF members to
distance themselves from the NCP and seek a “democratic system” that
guarantees equal right to citizens.
The memo also stated that one of its goals is to restructure the NIF
away from the influence of the NCP.
“Considering this regime [the NCP] as a custodian or supporter of the
Islamist project is a figment of self-deception and detachment from
reality,” the memo said.
The writers of the memo went on to detail a long list of failures they
accused the current NCP regime of being responsible for, including the
secession of South Sudan, the war in Darfur and the worsening
situation of the economy.
But what stands out in the new memo is the call to establish a civil
state that treats “the principles of freedom and justice as
inalienable rights”. The memo defined a civil state as "a state where
fundamental rights and freedoms are guaranteed, and where people are
equal before the law regardless of gender, racial or religious
discrimination”.
Sudan’s politically active Islamists, whether NCP or PCP members,
advocate an Islamist state in the traditional sense of the word, which
suggests a state based on a purely Islamic constitution that gives
preferential treatment to Muslims over non-Muslims.
The insistence of Sudan’s ruling Islamists on implementing Shar’iah
law is one of the factors that led to the secession of South Sudan
after nearly half a century of intermittent civil war in the mainly
Christian region.
The new memo also called for putting an end to internal wars and
pushing for peace, development and eradication of corruption.
Meanwhile, a senior NCP official, Amin Hassan Omer, demanded that
those behind the new memo reveal their identity. He stressed that his
party will not deal with memos signed by anonymous people and that its
worth can only be determined through the weight of the people who
signed it.
Another reform memo created by hardline Islamists and calling for
internal reforms appeared in the media last month.
(ST)
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