Weekly Digest Of Press Columns
03 February, 2019
KHARTOUM (Sudanow) - Renowned Columnist Murtadha al-Ghali wondered whether it is legitimate for members of the organized forces of the army, police and security to hide themselves behind masks or whether the law provides that their faces must be bare and they must bear badges on their chests with their names inscribed because they are doing legitimate functions.
A serviceman must be identified to the citizen and to the unit which assigned him to the job to account for any action against the law, Ghali wrote in a column that was published in Al-Akhbar daily newspaper of Sunday.
"Do those forces issue commands to their personnel to cover their faces?" the columnist said this is an important question that requires a straightforward answer to determine whether the demonstrator was killed on orders or on a personal motive by the perpetrator.
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Al-Hindi Izzal Dinn, an Islamist and Proprietor of Almeghar Alsyasy daily newspaper, has advised the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to reconsider its political alliances and not to be deceived that all its partners of the national dialogue parties are powerful, faithful and are standing steadfast with it against the opposition.
Izzal-Dinn was referring in his daily column that appeared on Almeghar Alsyasy daily of last Monday to a recent announcement by the Federal Ummah Party (FUP), a dissident of the opposition National Ummah Party (NUP), breaking up its partnership with the NCP and calling for the ouster of President Omar al-Beshir, the NCP leader.
The Islamic journalist said the leader of the FUP, Ahmed Babikir Nahar, was a minister of the successive governments of Ingaz for about 16 years and was replaced only four months ago by his colleague Omar Suleiman.
Nahar, according to Izzal-Dinn, made the statement of the extricating the partnership with the NCP and joining the present upheaval for the departure of President Omar al-Beshir, letting down the NCP in a month-long battle with the opposition.
The columnist noted that the FUP was the second to the NCP in the 2015 elections and still, its leader, Nahar, decided to jump from the NCP boat, citing another example of breaking conventions and treaties.
He said Nahar was preceded by such senior partners as Ghazi Salah al-Dinn Atabani, Hassan Riziq Osman, of the Reform Now Movement and Kamal Omar of the Popular Congress Party, warning the Beshir and his party that other politicians may jump from the boat.
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A regular columnist, writing on Aljareedah daily newspaper of Tuesday, considered as dubious an announcement by returning National Ummah Party (NUP) leader Sadek al-Mahdi deciding to join the anti-government upheaval after a full month of hesitance during which he trifled the national-wide demonstrations as "a soup vapor" and "a pre-ride forage."
The columnist, Hassan Warraq, suspected that Mahdi, who was welcomed on returning home on December 29 from a self-imposed exile, could be used by the government in foiling the upheaval.
He cited previous positions by Mahdi of supporting the Muslim Brothers in dissolving the Communist Party in the 1960s, reconciliation with former President Nimeiry in 1976 and his relationship with, and hesitant opposition to the Ingaz government.
Warraq said, however, the youthful protestors would not turn back any person from joining their uprising but would not allow anyone to lead them on grounds of long experience or heritage.
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Advocate Yassir Zain al-Abdin portrayed a gloomy picture of the economic situation in Sudan, referring to an official study in 2011 that stated that the poverty rate in Sudan was 46.5%, while reliable multiple sources put the rate at 75% and the Central Bureau of Statistics indicated that the rate of crushing poverty was one-third of the population.
Making the situation gloomier, the writer indicated in a column published in Almustagilla of Thursday that a study by the United Nations pointed out that 70% of the country's population find great difficulties in obtaining such basic necessities as water, food, medication and education.
He said the population experiences such economic hardships in a country that possesses so rich natural resources that could enable it to lead a high level of prosperity.
The preparation of a comprehensive strategy for alleviation of poverty in cooperation with the World Bank and the African Development Bank have turned into day-dreams as so was the battle for mitigating poverty, said Zain al-Abdin.
He said the decline in the agricultural production and the population migration from the countryside to the urban centers were among the factors of the growing poverty.
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The chief editor of Aljareedah daily newspaper, Ashraf Abdul Aziz, has described as unacceptable an option offered by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) for organizing elections in 2020 for making the change that is demanded by the nation-wide demonstrations in the Sudan.
Abdul Aziz said the economic crisis and the people's suffering that sparked the protests that switched into a demand for a political change, turning down all economic promises for removing the economic crisis and insisting on the political change of the regime.
The NCP, keeps insisting that any political change must be made through the polls for which no party, except the ruling party, is prepared and moreover, the protestors insist that the crisis is no longer economic but a political one and therefore they demand the departure of President Beshir and his regime, the columnist said.
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