Sudan: Figures of Bashir’s Regime Challenge Law to Dissolve National Congress Party

Sudanese protesters calling for toppling the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir (File photo: AFP)
Sudanese protesters calling for toppling the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir (File photo: AFP)
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Sudan: Figures of Bashir’s Regime Challenge Law to Dissolve National Congress Party

Sudanese protesters calling for toppling the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir (File photo: AFP)
Sudanese protesters calling for toppling the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir (File photo: AFP)

Former Foreign Minister and head of the National Congress Party Ibrahim Ghandour challenged the government by defying the law that bans former members of the party from political activity.

Ghandour announced that a law established by a political group will not deter the party members from exercising their rights.

He asserted in a Facebook post: “Our rights are not granted by anyone, and we are fully prepared to pay the price for those rights, be it prison or any other.”

Authorities established a law allowing the imprisonment of members of the former ruling party who are involved in politics.

Sudanese authorities imprisoned ousted president Omar al-Bashir in Kober, along with top figures of his party on charges of military coup, criminal participation in the murder of demonstrators, and financial corruption.

In November, the government issued a law to dismantle the system built by Bashir, confiscating its properties and banning its leadership activities.

Bashir is being investigated for his role in the 1989 coup that brought him to power, as well as the serious violations of human rights during his mandate and the involvement of his most prominent leaders in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Darfur.

A top official of the Declaration of Freedom and Change Forces (DFCF), Youssef Seddik, indicated that the revolution broke out against Bashir’s regime, which came to power with a military coup against the country's democratic system.

Seddik recalled how during Bashir’s ruling, restrictions were the worst on freedoms and human rights.

He noted that the National Congress Party was tried under the law "dismantling the rescue system" and banning its political activities.

Based on the law, any member of the party who is proven to have been involved in crimes against the Sudanese people will be prosecuted, according to Seddik.

Despite legal restrictions that prevent the Congress Party from engaging in any political activity, it has been organizing protests calling to overthrow the transitional government. Authorities have not taken any actions against the protesters, so far.

The head of the DFCF Executive Office, Babikir Faisal, explained that according to the constitutional document ruling the transitional period and the law to dismantle the system, the National Congress is an illegal entity and should not be allowed to engage in political action.

Faisal indicated that authorities have failed to arrest all figures of the former regime, and those who speak for the dissolved party. He added that the Public Prosecutor should have applied the law to anyone who breaks it, as was the case with Ibrahim Ghandour, who spoke on behalf of the party.

A DFCF top official accused the government of failing to firmly deal with the officials of the former regime and arresting them.

The official, who preferred not to be named, said that the protests toppled the regime over a year ago, and despite that, authorities have not been able to bring figures of the former regime to trial for their crimes.

He noted that the dissolution of the National Congress Party is the most important demand of the Sudanese people that took it to the streets and toppled Bashir’s regime.



Lebanese President Sponsors Dialogue with Hezbollah on its Weapons, State Monopoly over Arms 

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri meet at the Baabda presidential palace on Monday. (Lebanese Presidency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri meet at the Baabda presidential palace on Monday. (Lebanese Presidency)
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Lebanese President Sponsors Dialogue with Hezbollah on its Weapons, State Monopoly over Arms 

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri meet at the Baabda presidential palace on Monday. (Lebanese Presidency)
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri meet at the Baabda presidential palace on Monday. (Lebanese Presidency)

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri held a meeting at the Baabda presidential palace on Monday to pave the way for dialogue with Hezbollah leaders on the Iran-backed party’s possession of arms and need for the state to have monopoly over arms in the country.

Official sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that dialogue with Hezbollah aims to test the waters and the extent to which it is prepared to reach an agreement on its arsenal. Berri, Hezbollah’s sole remaining ally in Lebanon, supports intervening on behalf of the party – if necessary – to bridge any divides in the dialogue.

Any agreement will be followed with the drafting of a national security strategy for Lebanon, including a defense strategy, added the sources.

The sources said direct dialogue between Aoun and Hezbollah over the state monopoly over arms remains the better option than referring the issue to a dialogue table with other political parties seeing as agreements reached during past rounds of talks over the years were never implemented.

Deputy US special envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus, who was in Lebanon last week, expressed to Aoun her understanding of his desire to hold direct dialogue with Hezbollah.

However, she stressed that time is not in Lebanon’s favor as it needs to resolve the issue which would pave the way for other solutions to its numerous crises.

Ortagus met during her visit with Aoun, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Berri.

Talks with the Lebanese leaders helped “soften the American stance” over Lebanon’s approach towards Hezbollah’s weapons possession because “resorting to force to disarm the party will jeopardize civil peace in the country,” said the sources.

Ortagus stated she was willing to travel to Beirut for a third time this year, possibly at the end of April or early May, to follow up on financial reforms and efforts to limit the possession of weapons to the state.

She has stressed the need for Lebanon to meet its obligations “as soon as possible” to avoid the dialogue becoming a waste of time and to prevent Lebanon from heading towards a collision course with the international community which has set as a priority the state achieving monopoly over arms.

Fulfilling that demand will restore confidence in Lebanon and speed up international efforts to help it resolve its crises.

The sources said Hezbollah is aware that limiting the possession of weapons won’t happen “at the press of a button.” However, stalling over the issue will not provide it with excuses to renege on its commitment to implement United Nations Security Council resolution 1701 and declaration that it will stand by the state in reaching diplomatic solutions that would make Israel respect the ceasefire and withdraw from the South.

Hezbollah has effectively become isolated with no allies but Berri. The party cannot escape local, Arab and international pressure to disarm, especially after the weakening of the “Resistance Axis”, which it is a part of, and Iran’s waning influence in the region, political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Iran’s sole concern now is protecting its regime, they stressed.

So, Hezbollah has no choice but to join efforts to build a state and commit to conditions that have been imposed by the changes in the region and Lebanon, they went to say.

Hezbollah’s launch of its “support front” with Gaza and dragging Lebanon into a reckless confrontation with Israel has cost it dearly and it can no longer rise from under the rubble – in the political sense – without outside financial and economic support to help it rebuild what Israel destroyed, said the sources.

The question remains: will dialogue lead Hezbollah to disarm and agree to the state to have monopoly over weapons? Or will it use the dialogue to gain time as Iran seeks to improve its conditions as it prepares to hold negotiations with the US?

European parties had advised the party to reassess its calculations and reconsider its stances so that it places Lebanon first in its political choices so that it can reconcile with its political parties after years of tensions sparked by its monopoly of the decision of war and peace.