(KHARTOUM) – Sadiq al-Mahdi the leader of the National Umma Party (NUP) called to form an alliance between the “Forces of the National Agenda” to protect the country from the Islamists and secular groups and called on the army to support it.
In a sermon delivered on the occasion of Eid al-Adha from Wad Nubawi mosque in Omdurman, al-Mahdi made an analysis of the political situation in the country. He said that the “failure of the transitional period” led to the emergence of a movement seeking to restore Islamist rule and another secular movement seeking to dismantle the country.
He went on to say that there is a need for an alliance between the forces of the centre to establish a democratic government that preserves the unity of the country and its independence, after referring to the association of Islamist and secular groups with foreign forces.
“The salvation of the country requires the union of the forces of the national agenda which is expected to enjoy the support of the electors and the international community particularly those keen on democratic civil governance in Sudan. Also, it would get the support of the Arab and African regional powers,” he said.
He added that this national bloc will protect the homeland and address the Islamist and secular agendas that are destructive of the conditions for building the homeland.
During the first months of this year, the Umma Party threatened to demand early elections and shorten the transitional period, but it reconsidered its position saying they will refuse the extension of the transition.
Also, the party froze its participation in the leadership body of the ruling Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) when its allies refused to review the structures of the alliance.
Furthermore, the NUP recently announced its rejection of approach of the Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok in the appointment of civilian state governors and demanded to appoint eight governors from their party.
Hamdok appointed only six governors from the party of Sadiq al-Mahdi. The appointed governors refused to decline these positions when the NUP ordered them to do so.
In his sermon, al-Mahdi said that the communist faction of the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) recently established an alliance with the SPLM-N led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu with the Popular and formed a secularist bloc with external support from the right-wing American evangelical groups that “seek to divide Sudan”.
“This secularist bloc, with its declared policies, would provide the Islamist bloc with more reasons to justify their existence and actions.”
Al-Mahdi appealed to the Sudanese army to align with the coalition that he calls to establish saying its support is needed to protect the homeland.
“The (Sudan) Armed Forces with all its components and the Rapid Support Forces are patriotic forces. Their patriotism made them reject the bloody deposed (regime) and took the side of the people. They are now required to align themselves with the nation-building agenda and protect it from a drift towards Islamist apostasy and secularist deprivation.”
In his evaluation of the transitional period, al-Mahdi disapproved Hamdok’s request to place Sudan under “UN guardianship”, and his visit to Kauda on 9 January 2020, the stronghold of the SPLM-N al-Hilu, in which he “appeared as if he recognized an independent state”
The NUP leader also criticized the prime minister’s acceptance of the principle of paying compensation to U.S. victims of terror attacks committed by the ousted regime in order to remove Sudan from the list of countries that support terrorism.
(ST)
