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| Sudans ex-revolutionaries warn Egyptians to be wary |
| 2011-02-15 |
| [Arab News] Egypt's protesters should take care that the army and the political parties do not hijack their successful overthrow of Hosni Mubarak and they should not rush to the polls, leaders of Sudan's intifada of the 1980s said. Before Tunisia's uprising last month and the subsequent revolt in Egypt, Sudan in 1985 was the last Arab country to kick out a president through popular protests. With the benefit of a quarter century of hindsight, the Sudanese intifada's civilian leaders warned the organizers of the 18-day demonstrations in Egypt that their work was just beginning. "Egypt is a very strong regime, a strong army, strong security, strong civil service, business and it's all pro-NDP (Mubarak's ruling party)," said lawyer Amin Mekki, who helped organize the 1985 uprising in Sudan. "So you can easily be fooled and go back to work but then how do you get the people back together in the spirit of today?" he said. Sudan's transitional government was largely made up of the lawyers, doctors and other professionals who led unions to rebel against Jaafar Nimeiri. The government also included members of Sudan's army leadership who -- like in Egypt -- eventually sided with the demonstrators despite being part of Nimeiri's regime. The transitional government held elections after just one year, reducing a three-year transitional period after pressure by Sudan's political parties. But the Prime Minister of that government, Al-Jazouli Dafallah, said that was too soon. Egypt's new military rulers said at the weekend that they would keep control of the country for six months, or until parliamentary elections are held following amendments to the constitution. Dafallah, sitting under a photo of him being released from Kober prison and lifted high on the shoulders of protesters in 1985, said they should have insisted on a longer transitional period to allow freedoms to take root after 16 years of autocracy. "We were very suspicious of the military ... but with hindsight we found that the military were not really interested in continuing in government." |
| Posted by:Fred |