DATE=12/17/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SUDAN POL (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257254
BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB
DATELINE=KHARTOUM
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In Sudan, supporters of the leader of the
dissolved national assembly are urging followers to be
patient and avoid violence following the declaration
of emergency measures by President Omar al-Bashir.
V-O-A Correspondent Scott Bobb reports from Khartoum
that efforts continue to mend the rift within the
ruling party, but the Bashir government says its
priority is negotiations with the opposition.
TEXT: The sole cabinet minister to resign because of
the Sudanese political crisis, Mohammed al-Amin
Khalifa, told supporters at Friday prayers at Khartoum
University they must not be drawn into street
demonstrations.
/// KHALIFA ACT - IN ARABIC - FADE UNDER ///
Mr. Khalifa said the factions currently embroiled in
the political crisis in Sudan are one group and want
one nation. He urged patience, saying the Islamist
movement has been tested before and is being tested
again.
Mr. Khalifa resigned three days after President Omar
al-Bashir dissolved parliament [Sunday 12/12] amid a
power struggle with its speaker and spiritual leader
of the Islamist movement, Hassan al-Turabi.
A committee of senior party members has been trying to
mediate the crisis, but Mr. Turabi Friday told V-O-A
that after two nights of meetings, the chance of
success appears remote.
/// TURABI ACT ///
The committee within the party is still working.
But the president says he is not going to
recognize the basic law of the party, or the
institutions at all, or the changes, the extra-
constitutional measures destroying the federal
and the central and the liberal aspects of the
constitution.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Turabi accuses the president of staging a palace
coup and says he will appeal what he calls a violation
of the constitution.
President Bashir accuses Mr. Turabi of undermining his
authority and distracting the government from
important issues like political reconciliation and
economic revitalization.
Sudan Information Minister Ghazi Salahdin says there
is little chance of reconciliation at this time
between the two camps. He says the priority of the
Bashir government is to draw opposition parties into
talks aimed at changing the constitution and
organizing new elections.
/// SALAHDIN ACT ///
Our priority is to settle this constitutional
matter and bring about as much national harmony
and national reconciliation as possible, and
then go for the elections. We hope to do that
as soon as possible.
/// END ACT ///
The information minister says Sudan's government hopes
to hold the elections in three months' time. But he
says it would rather wait for negotiations with the
opposition to bear fruit than to rush the process and
end up going it alone.
Political analysts note that there is widespread
fatigue in Sudan over the 16-year civil war in the
south. They say there is also considerable
disenchantment in certain sectors with the Bashir
government, which came to power in a coup d'etat 10
years ago. However, they say there is cautious
support at the moment for the emergency measures in
the hope that they will lead to peace and a more
representative government. (Signed)
NEB/SB/JWH/WTW
17-Dec-1999 13:09 PM EDT (17-Dec-1999 1809 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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