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English edition -1st quarter 1999
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Slackening off ?
| The end of June 1999 will mark the tenth anniversary of the putsch
that toppled the democratically elected government and put in place the
military junta and the National Islamic Front. As we begin another year,
one should closely examine the present situation in Sudan, for it is more
confused and complex than it has ever been.
On the military side, front line and fighting forces make little or no progress. In the South the government has control of about ten towns but the SPLA holds the others and the open countryside. To the east, the scenario is approximately the same: no progression on either side for the past two years. The opposition still holds Kurmuk, a frontier town, and about 1000 km2 on the Erithrean border. The situation seems the same everywhere else: government forces and rebels; both considerably weakened, remain on the defensive. At Khartoum, Hassan el Tourabi, who for a long time was considered the brain behind the regime, and the President of the Republic are at daggers drawn. Tourabi has announced that he would resign from his position as president of he Assembly to give himself completely to organising the ex-single party now that other political parties are allowed. The government was behind their very hasty inception in order to render credible the fiction of a multi-party democracy. That is where Tourabi nearly fell into the trap. He resigned from the presidency of the Assembly, but when the party's executive met to ratify his primacy, he found himself in a purely honorific position with no power at all and the direction of the party going to Bechir. The plot had been masterminded secretly by Bechir's second in command, Ali Osma Taha who became vice-president of the Republic. Dispossessed of all his prerogatives, Tourabi acted rapidly. As he had as yet no successor in the Assembly, he had himself voted in by the deputies to reoccupy the post from which he had resigned. Ali Taha was one of the few to raise objections that were quickly swept aside. However, a deep fracture remains at the heart of the regime, especially since it seems certain that President Bechir had openly supported Tourabi's eviction. In the midst of all the small parties hastily created to give an illusion of democracy in the face of the powerful formation upholding the government, the interior opposition, grouping Mahdists, DUP and others, does not give up. Further on will be found the contents of the letter that about fifty members opposed to President Bechir wrote inviting him to dismiss the Assembly and the government and to form an interim government with the outside opposition while awaiting new elections. In the meantime, the members of the opposition claim recognition of the right of the South to auto-determination. The delegation bearing the letter to Bechir was dispersed by the Republican Guard. However, it set off immediately for the office of lawyer Ghazzi Suleiman, where a press conference was hold in the presence of the Ambassadors of France and Germany and of several other diplomats. This last initiative doubtless prevented them from being arrested and thrown into prison. Indeed, repression continue. Prominent members of the Umma party have been arrested and the police intervened to present the celebration of the 114th anniversary of the capture of Khartum by the Mahdi. It would seem that at last the situation in Sudan is beginning to arouse the interest of the media and alert public opinion. More and more often, the written press, radio and TV channels give massacres, Human Rights violations and ransoming of slaves front coverage, whereas previously, all these facts only received a very brief mention. This is extremely encouraging and it is to be hoped that such interest will bear fruit trough concrete actions carried out by the international community so as to bring an end to this unbearable situation. |
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Fomalhaut
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