Since Mubarak al Fadl al Mahdi had to resign from his position as General Secretary of the National Democratic Alliance, his uncle Sadiq al-Mahdi seems to have decided to return to the Sudan in order “to promote national dialogue”. Reading between the lines: “to attempt and seize a part of the authority that the Beshir-Turabi dissension may have left available”. But such a return might prove more difficult than he foresees. First, Sadiq does not care to return alone and he has few allies. Only one Northerner is involved, al Hajj Warraq, a member of the dissident communist group of al Khatim Adlan, and he would recently have had some doubts. In the South, Riak Mashar was approached, but he just left the Upper Nile to seek refuge in Nairobi, afraid for his life. For the Nuer have had enough of his turncoat attitude and were near expressing this without amenity. Bona Malwal, the Sudan Democratic Gazette editor, was approached as well, he also has his doubts. As for the members of the Umma party, they have only moderate enthusiasm for their leader’s decision. He himself is touring European countries in an attempt to test the climate among the exiled communities; he discovered a rather chilly atmosphere. The same reaction came from within the Sudan where members of the party-sect know pertinently that the National Islamic Front keeps a total monopoly of power even though both factions pro, and anti-Turabi tear each other apart in a more or less covered way. But there is few room for what the older exiled politicians of the former regime see as most important: money-making. The organisation of vehicles importation is a good example of this; importers allied to the NIF have the monopoly of small second hand cars of Japanese and Korean manufacture, while the DUP merchants have all the import licenses for luxury cars like Mercedes or Range Rover. Since the population is considerably impoverished, these latter do not sell. As for the government, under the pretext of virtuous savings, it only orders small cars provided by its NIF commercial partners. In such an atmosphere of complete political and economical blockage, genuine conciliation with the media seems more like a delusion or a safety-valve than the manifested intention of real liberalization. Sadiq al-Mahdi is making an overall assessment of this situation before deciding whether to come back. His friends have already warned him that his possible return might turn against him and discredit him still a little more without his gaining anything.