Sudan's Political Parties:Umma National Party uThe Democratic Unionist Party(UDP) u National Islamic Front(NIF)u Sudanese People's Liberation Movement(SPLM) u The Republican Brothersu Sudanese Communist Party(SCP) uSudan National Alliance/Sudan Alliance Forces (SNA/SAF)u Sudaen Fedral Democratic Allianceu Beja Congress uThe Baath PartyuSudanese National Party uNew Democratic Forces Movement (Haag)uUnion of Sudanese African Parties(USAP)
Sudan's Main Political Parties
Note: All political parties were banned since July 1989.
The Umma National Party (UP)
During the last period of parliamentary democracy, the Umma Party was the
largest in the country, and its leader, Sadiq al Mahdi served as prime
minister in all coalition governments between 1986 and 1989. Originally
founded in 1945, the Umma was the political organization of the Islamic
Ansar movement. Its supporters followed the strict teachings of the Mahdi,
who ruled Sudan in the 1880s. Although the Ansar were found throughout
Sudan, most lived in rural areas of western Darfur and Kurdufan. Since
Sudan became independent in 1956, the Umma Party has experienced
alternating periods of political prominence and persecution. Sadiq al Mahdi became head of the Umma and spiritual leader of the Ansar in 1970,
following clashes with the Nimeiri government, during which about 3,000
Ansar were killed. Following a brief reconciliation with Nimeiri in the
mid-1970s, Sadiq al Mahdi was imprisoned for his opposition to the
government's foreign and domestic policies, including his 1983 denunciation of the September Laws as being un-Islamic.
Despite Sadiq al Mahdi's criticisms of Nimeiri's efforts to exploit
religious sentiments, the Umma was an Islamic party dedicated to achieving
its own Muslim political agenda for Sudan. Sadiq al Mahdi had never
objected to the sharia becoming the law of the land, but rather to the
"un-Islamic" manner Nimeiri had used to implement the sharia through the
September Laws. Thus, when Sadiq al Mahdi became prime minister in 1986, he was loath to become the leader who abolished the sharia in Sudan. Failing to appreciate the reasons for non-Muslim antipathy toward the sharia, Sadiq al Mahdi cooperated with his brother-in-law, NIF leader Turabi, to draft Islamic legal codes for the country. By the time Sadiq al Mahdi realized that ending the civil war and retaining the sharia were incompatible political goals, public confidence in his government had dissipated, setting the stage for military intervention. Following the June 1989 coup, Sadiq al Mahdi was arrested and kept in solitary confinement for several months. He was not released from prison until early 1991. Sadiq al Mahdi
indicated approval of political positions adopted by the Umma Party during
his detention, including joining with the SPLM and northern political
parties in the National Democratic Alliance opposition grouping.
For more informations' go toThe National Umma Party. The main home page of The National Umma Party.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was similarly based on a religious
order, the Khatmiyyah organization. Ever since the Khatmiyyah opposed the
Mahdist movement in the 1880s, it has been a rival of the Ansar. Although
the Khatmiyyah was more broadly based than the Ansar, it was generally less effective politically. Historically, the DUP and its predecessors were plagued by factionalism, stemming largely from the differing perspectives of secular-minded professionals in the party and the more traditional religious values of their Khatmiyyah supporters. The DUP leader and hereditary Khatmiyyah spiritual guide since 1968, Muhammad Uthman al Mirghani, tried to keep these tensions in check by avoiding firm stances on controversial political issues. In particular, he refrained from public criticism of Nimeiri's September Laws so as not to alienate Khatmiyyah followers who approved of implementing the sharia. In the 1986 parliamentary elections, the DUP won the second largest number of seats and agreed to participate in Sadiq al Mahdi's coalition government. Like Sadiq al Mahdi, Mirghani felt uneasy about abrogating the sharia, as demanded by the SPLM, and supported the idea that the September Laws could be revised to expunge the "un- Islamic" content added by Nimeiri. By late 1988, however, other DUP leaders had persuaded Mirghani that the Islamic law issue was the main obstacle to a peaceful resolution of the civil war. Mirghani himself became convinced that the war posed a more serious danger to Sudan than did any compromise over the sharia. It was this attitude that prompted him to meet with Garang in Ethiopia where he negotiated a cease-fire agreement based on a commitment to abolish the September Laws. During the next six months leading up to the June 1989 coup, Mirghani worked to build support for the agreement, and in the process emerged as the most important Muslim religious figure to advocate concessions on the implementation of the sharia. Following the coup, Mirghani fled into exile and he has remained in Egypt. Since 1989, the RCC-NS has attempted to exploit DUP factionalism by coopting party officials who contested Mirghani's leadership, but these efforts failed to weaken the DUP as an opposition group.
The National Islamic Front (NIF)
The Muslim Brotherhood, which originated in Egypt, has been active in Sudan since its formation there in 1949. It emerged from Muslim student groups that first began organizing in the universities during the 1940s, and its main support base has remained the college educated.
The MuslimBrotherhood's objective in Sudan has been to institutionalize Islamic law throughout the country. Hassan Abdallah al Turabi, former dean of the School of Law at the University of Khartoum, had been the Muslim Brotherhood's secretary general since 1964. He began working with Nimeiri in the mid-1970s, and, as his attorney general in 1983, played a key role in the controversial introduction of the sharia. After the overthrow of Nimeiri, Turabi was instrumental in setting up the NIF, a
Brotherhood-dominated organization that included several other small
Islamic parties. Following the 1989 coup, the RCC-NS arrested Turabi, as
well as the leaders of other political parties, and held him in solitary
confinement for several months. Nevertheless, this action failed to dispel
a pervasive belief in Sudan that Turabi and the NIF actively collaborated
with the RCC-NS. NIF influence within the government was evident in its
policies and in the presence of several NIF members in the cabinet.
Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)
The SPLA was formed in 1983 when Lieutenant Colonel John Garang of the SPA was sent to quell a mutiny in Bor of 500 southern troops who were resistingorders to be rotated to the north. Instead of ending the mutiny, Garang encouraged mutinies in other garrisons and set himself at the head of the rebellion against the Khartoum government. Garang, a Dinka born into a Christian family, had studied at Grinnell College, Iowa, and later returnedto the United States to take a company commanders' course at Fort Benning,Georgia, and again to earn advanced economics degrees at Iowa State University.
By 1986 the SPLA was estimated to have 12,500 adherents organized into
twelve battalions and equipped with small arms and a few mortars. By 1989
the SPLA's strength had reached 20,000 to 30,000; by 1991 it was estimated
at 50,000 to 60,000. Many members of the SPLA continued their civilian
occupations, serving in individual campaigns when called upon. At least
forty battalions had been formed, bearing such names as Tiger, Crocodile,
Fire, Nile, Kalishnikov, Bee, Eagle, and Hippo.
The Republican Brothers
A small but influential religious party in the early 1980s was the
Republican Brothers. A Sufi shaykh, Mahmud Muhammad Taha, founded the
Republican Brothers in the 1950s as an Islamic reform movement stressing
the qualities of tolerance, justice, and mercy. Taha came to prominence in
1983 when he opposed Nimeiri's implementation of the sharia as being
contrary to the essence of Islam. He was arrested and subsequently executedfor heresy in January 1985. The execution of such a widely revered
religious figure--Taha was seventy-six--aroused considerable revulsion in
Sudan and was one of the factors that helped precipitate the coup against
Nimeiri. Although the Republican Brothers survived the loss of its leader
and participated in the political process during the parliamentary period,
it has not been politically active since 1989.
The Sudanese Communist Party (SCP)
The SCP was formed in1946 and early established a strong support base in
universities and labor unions. Although relatively small, the SCP had
become one of the country's best organized political parties by 1956 when
Sudan obtained its independence. The SCP also was one of the few parties
that recruited members in the south. The various religiously affiliated
parties opposed the SCP, and, consequently, the progression of civilian andmilitary governments alternately banned and courted the party until 1971,when Nimeiri accused the SCP of complicity in an abortive military coup.
Nimeiri ordered the arrest of hundreds of SCP members, and several leaders,including the secretary general,Abdel Khalig Mahgoub, were convicted of treason in hastilyarranged trials and summarily executed. These harsh measures effectivelycrippled the SCP for many years.
Following Nimeiri's overthrow, the SCP began reorganizing, and it won threeseats in the 1986 parliamentary elections. Since the June 1989 coup, theSCP has emerged as one of the Bashir government's most effective internaopponents, largely through fairly regular publication and circulation oits underground newspaper, Al Midan. In November 1990, Babikr at Tijani aTayib, secretary of the C.C of the banned SCP, managed to escape from house arrest and flee to Ethiopia.
SUDAN National Alliance(SNA)
Sudan ALLIANCE FORCES(SAF)
(From SAF Fact Sheet)
SAF was formed in August 1994 as a democratic , secular , non-regional political/military organization .SAFs founders include several of the same civilian and military leaders who were involved in the 1985 general uprising that toppled the military dictatorship of General Numeri in Sudan. SAFs roots can be traced back to the professional associations, trade unions ,universities , peace and student movements ,and the liberal wing of the Sudanese military .Since its founding ,SAF has grown into the second largest military organization in the Sudanese opposition (only the Sudan People s liberation Army {SPLA} is larger) . SAFs remarkable growth has born out the belief that there is a thirst in Sudan for a new democratic ,secular , non-regional party -- a party dedicated to establishing a functioning democracy in a "New Sudan", a party of new ideas , a party untainted by the failures and catastrophes of recent Sudanese history.
SAFis directed by an eight person Executive Committee{The Political-Military Beurea}.The Executive Committee is composed of two military officers ,an international lawyer ,a trade unionist ,tow academicians ,a business man and a medical doctor .The Executive Committee include founding members of Sudan's human right and peace movement, and the youngest member on the Executive Committee is a woman .Because of the current primacy of military actions, Brig. Abdel Aziz Khalid is the current chairman of the Executive Committee and the Commander of SAF military forces. However , a vote of the civilian -dominated Executive Committee is the final word in all SAF actions.
After a several successful limited operations in Eastern Sudan during the year 1996, in January and February of 1997,SAF coordinated its first large military operation with the Sudanese people liberation Army(SPLA).The operation was quite successful, and the opposition forces now occupy a swath of territory near the dam that supplies 80% of Khartoum's electricity . SAF administrates the liberated territory north of the Blue Nile {around Menza}, and the SPLA the liberated territory south of the Blue Nile. In March , SAF conducted another joint operation in the northeastern part of the country .This time it was a joint collaboration between SAF , the SPLA and the Beja Congress. A chunk of territory near the red sea -including Aqiq Bort-was taken and the opposition still holds it. in April 1997,SAf lead the attack that overran the NIF camp at Togan Near the strategic Port Sudan to Khartoum roud. And in August 1997 SAF opened a new front south of El Gadarif and liberated Basunga erea.
The National Democratic Alliance-NDA- is the umbrella group of all the major Sudanese opposition organizations, and SAF was one of the original four members(with DUP, Umma Party and SPLA)The NDA has now grown to about 11 members .Although there will of course be disagreements in any organization of this size, for such a diverse group the NDA has maintained an impressive degree of unity in working towards its goal of toppling the extremist Islamic regime .SAF signed and supports the NDAs June 1995 Declaration of Asmara.
Political administration of militarily liberated ereas is primarily carried out by local officials appointed or confirmed after consultation with the local population . Where possible , SAF cadres carry out political education programs on the future transition to a functioning democratic government in Sudan .Humanitarian administration of liberated ereas is carried out separately and is directed by the Sudan Future Care -Amal Trust (AMAL), an independent humanitarian organization registered in Eritrea . There is a pressing need for immediate humanitarian assistance to the population in the liberated zones in the provisions of basic life support , health programs , water projects , small scale development initiatives , and small income generating development projects , especially for women.
For more informations visit Saf Home Page and Saf Web Zone
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