Sudan party breaks with Bashir govt to support protests

A Sudanese political party has withdrawn from the country’s National Consensus Government and called on President Omar Al-Bashir to step down, after weeks of mass protests that have rocked the nation.

The Umma Federal Party (UFP) led by Ahmed Babikir Nahar announced its support of the demonstrations, pointing to the failure of the government to provide basic commodities to the people. The withdrawal makes the UFP the third main political party to denounce Al-Bashir since protests against austerity measures and political autocracy began last month.

“The government has been unable to provide the minimum of services to the people. While it spends few resources of the country in the sectors of governance and administration, security services wage a war against citizens,” the party said in a statement.

At a press conference yesterday, Nahar said that the party’s representatives in the government would resign immediately. The UFP currently administers one ministry, the Ministry of Culture, as well as three state ministries in Darfur region. It also has eight members of parliament at the National Assembly, and several representatives in the legislative assemblies of a number of governorates.

However the move sparked controversy, with some 30 prominent members of the UFP reportedly rejecting the decision to leave the coalition, stating that Nahar had acted without their consultation.

READ: Sudan’s Bashir says protesters trying to copy Arab Spring

The National Consensus Government was formed in late 2017 after three years of negotiations under President Al-Bashir’s dialogue initiative. Including representatives from numerous political parties, the 73-member government selected politicians from opposition groups for ministerial positions, but the talks had been boycotted by the main opposition parties, most notably the National Ummah Party, and the main armed groups, such as the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.

The National Ummah Party led by Sadiq Al-Mahdi, and the National Front for Change (NFC) headed by Ghazi Salah Al-Din announced their support for demonstrations, along with 22 other smaller groups, at the beginning of the year, condemning the deteriorating economic conditions and demanding Al-Bashir step down.

Despite the demonstrations’ peaceful nature, security forces have responded with violence. At least 40 people have been killed and over 500 have been injured, whilst over 1,000 are believed to have been arrested. Students in particular have been detained en masse, with many claiming they have been forced to confess to being part of a terror cell.

Last week, the International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) called for the Sudanese government to respect the right to peaceful protest, and accelerate solving the crisis by “prosecuting the corrupt and aggressors”.

The statement pointed out that the right to peaceful demonstration is guaranteed by Sharia law and international law, stressing the importance of holding to account everyone proved to have killed innocent people, whether from the government or the demonstrators.

READ: Why has Sudan’s Islamic Movement become the target of street protests?