|
Sudan’s Mahdi rejects call for mass demos on June 30
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Sudan’s veteran opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi rejected on Wednesday a call for nationwide mass demonstrations against the country’s ruling generals on June 30.The remarks by the head of National Umma Party come as the tension between the generals and leaders from the umbrella protest movement, the Alliance for Freedom and Change, remain high after a deadly crackdown on a protest camp killed dozens of demonstrators. The June 30 rallies called by the alliance coincide with the 30th anniversary of the coup that had brought now ousted leader Omar al-Bashir  Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to ArabizeDarfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. to power after toppling the then elected government of Mahdi. "Our opinion is to avoid escalatory measures from either side," Mahdi, who is part of the protest movement, said at a presser at his party headquarters in Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum across the Nile. Mahdi said any escalation prior to receiving the ruling military council’s response to a power transfer plan proposed by Æthiopia would be "premature". Æthiopia is mediating talks between the generals and protest leaders since previous negotiations collapsed in the wake of the June 3 crackdown on a protest sit-in outside the army headquarters in the capital. Æthiopia’s proposal calls for forming a new 15-member civilian-majority governing body, which the protest leaders have accepted but the military council has so far dismissed. On June 3, gunnies in military fatigues stormed the protest camp, shooting and beating demonstrators who had camped there since April 6. More than 100 people were killed on that day, according to medics linked to the protest movement. Officials say 61 people died. The generals deny they ordered the dispersal, insisting they had authorized only a limited operation to clear a nearby area of drug pushers. Æthiopia and the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... have since stepped up diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Sudan. Posted by: Fred 2019-06-27 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=544340 |