DATE=4/6/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SUDAN / POLITICS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261015
BYLINE=LISA BRYANT
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Senior members of Sudan's influential Umma
opposition party are returning home (today/Thursday)
after years in exile. Lisa Bryant reports from Cairo
that their return, apparently aimed at drumming up
popular support in Sudan, comes after a rare meeting
in Egypt this week between the Umma Party's leader,
former Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq el Mahdi, and
President Omar el Bashir.
TEXT: Mr. Mahdi said he discussed with President
Bashir the fact that Sudan is, as Mr. Mahdi puts it,
at a crossroads. Mr. Mahdi says the president agreed
that Sudan needs a comprehensive peace settlement.
/// 1st MAHDI ACT ///
Our meeting has reviewed the situation [and]
agreed that we should all be working very
seriously towards making this enterprise a
success that should get everyone on board. We
hope that if all are involved in this process as
we expect, then it is possible to arrive at this
comprehensive peace agreement.
/// END ACT ///
Sudan has been fighting a protracted civil war, which
initially pitted the mostly Islamic north against the
Christian and animist south. Mr. Mahdi, who heads the
northern Muslim Ansar religious movement, reflects a
broader opposition that has since united against the
current regime.
Former Prime Minister Mahdi, who was deposed in a 1989
coup led by President Bashir, fled into self-imposed
exile in 1996. Until recently, he has worked with the
National Democratic Alliance, an opposition coalition
that aims to topple the current government. However,
Mr. Mahdi says there is now a greater political
openness in Sudan, and the return of about 50 Umma
Party members reflects that fact.
/// 2nd MAHDI ACT ///
We are not going because we have agreed with the
regime on anything. We are going because we
think there is a greater margin. [It is] quite
clear: Margin for political activity today is
greater than it was in 1996. This is true by
any standard.
/// END ACT ///
A dialogue between the Umma Party and the government
began last year, when Mr. Mahdi met with Sudanese
religious leader Hassan el Turabi. Late last year,
the party signed a reconciliation agreement with the
government. The deal was harshly criticized by
members of the opposition N-D-A, and Umma has since
split with the alliance.
// OPT // Mr. Mahdi says his party will not return to
the N-D-A fold until the alliance undertakes major
reforms. He also says the alliance's entrenched
opposition to the Bashir regime was ineffective. //
END OPT //
A member of the N-D-A opposition, Abdon Agaw Nhial,
criticizes the Umma Party's decision to resume
political activity in Sudan. Mr. Nhial says the
government's gestures toward more political freedoms,
including allowing greater press coverage, are a
mirage.
// OPT // Mr. Nhial notes that several journalists in
Sudan were detained last month, after a newspaper
published a poem ostensibly critical of the
government. If the opposition returns, he says it
will find political doors are slammed shut. // END
OPT //
But Mr. Mahdi says the Umma Party has no intention of
working within the system until the Bashir
administration agrees to a new constitution. He says
political reconciliation must also take place.
Mr. Mahdi does not rule out returning to Sudan. He
says that matter will be discussed at an upcoming Umma
Party conference. (SIGNED)
NEB/LB/GE/WTW
06-Apr-2000 12:12 PM EDT (06-Apr-2000 1612 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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