Sara Nugdallah: a lady who beg to differ with the government, does not see eye to eye with ruling party

By: Ahmed Alhaj (Site Admin)


Women activist and politicians, Dr Sarra Nugdallah, believes Sudanese are politicians by nature and adore democracy. That explains, she maintains, their continued eagerness for any change even if it were through the barrel of the gun. She believes that whenever there is a crackdown or tarnishing of their freedoms, Sudanese appear to be in the process of initiating a change to restore those freedoms they cherished. Now with the world around them boiling in uprisings and revolts, she wonders, are we to see one such revolt in the country or is the government ready to make radical changes and adjustments to cope with aspirations of the youth?


Head of the political Bureau in the Umma National Umma Party, Ms Nugdallah believes her party is actively engaged in introducing changes and submitting proposals that would end up with a democratic multi-party national government.


 


Mrs. Nugdallah urges the main party within the current government, the National Congress Party (NCP), to listen to the voice of wisdom and accept the National Rescue Document, a text presented by her party, or even other voice of wisdom that Sudanese people would initiate and lead the change "to create a real democratic transformation". But she is clear that, one thing would not work at present “military confrontation with the NCP is unlikely. We prefer the civil struggle and we advice the government to accept the document and recognize the other political parties” .


It was clear from many initiatives and attempts and meetings, that the Umma and the NCP have failed so far to reach tangible accord on a number of issues. But for her the establishment of a joint committee to hammer out an agreement and a common ground was a breakthrough. Consent, she stresses, has been reached on many issues except for the question of the National Government which was rejected by the NCP. She said the NCP has instead proposed a broad-based government .


 


The veteran politician is hopeful that what she calls "real democracy" would be laid down in Sudan, a strategic goal for which she said her party has been working since independence, adding that through democracy justice would be done and that there would be equal distribution of power and wealth. She believes that it is also the means by which all issues of the country would be reviewed, involving all political parties, setting the basis of a constitution that reflects the aspirations of Sudanese people .


She further said that the democratic alliance still has the opportunity to achieve a permanent change that would not be aborted by military coups, explaining that in 55 years since its independence, Sudan has only enjoyed 11 years of fragile democracy. She complains that during this short period in the history of Sudan, political parties were not allowed time enough to lay down the foundations for democratic exercise and that no party has found the opportunity to implement its program so that the citizens would know the party that is really aware of their concerns and serves their interests .


 


She believes the National Democratic Alliance, for 22 years, has succeeded in snatching some freedoms from the current regime .


Nugdallah, further, made comparison between the military systems which governed the country, saying that Aboud government, despite its disadvantages, was not ideologically oriented, was patriotic and preserved the standing legislative and judiciary institutions of the country . Like the Nimeiri regime, she argues, this government has weakened the civil and military institutions, but it has established many development projects. She claims that the Salvation government comes last as political systems that governed Sudan, saying that it was characterized by its ideological nature while claiming to have a civilizational system and politicized all the country’s institutions .


Meanwhile, she refutes what has been recently circulated that her party would participate in the NCP government. “This is untrue. If we want to do this we could have done it long ago when Mubarak joined them. We are not ready to sacrifice not even one percent of our heritage and history. We reiterate our commitment to participate only in case of national consensus and polling boxes”. She vehemently argued .


As for internal arrangements within her own political party, she said that they were embarked in that, adding that the party has achieved many gains in the youth and women sectors and that during the past 22 years the youth sector within her party at  the universities has expanded and enjoys strong and experienced cadres.


 


Among the gains, she said, the increase of awareness with the democratic exercise within the party institution in the state, explaining that this was evident in South Kordofan State elections where the party cadres elected the state’s Wali and the candidates together with their participation in the alliances. However, she acknowledged that her party has also experienced disadvantages including disputes and differences within its grassroots .


She argues that since the Umma party has decided to lead the civil struggle, it has kept on contributing with its viewpoints in many of the country’s issues, top of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), explaining that her party has pointed to the need for involving all the stakeholders in the peace process to achieve the aspirations of the Sudanese people. "Peace is  not a matter of a cease-fire between two parties."


 


The Umma political party has presented the National Salvation Document in January to the NCP. However, there were political parties that criticized the Umma party’s national salvation document.


In this respect, the Spokesman of the National Consensus Alliance Kamal Omer Abdul-Salam said that the alliance had already informed the Umma party not to negotiate in its name, and adhered to their position of working to topple the government if the latter refused to accept a transitional government and cancel the results of the recent elections including the presidential and state Governors elections. He further ridiculed the talk about the weight of the political parties, saying that such talk was outdated after the revolutions of Tunisia and Egypt.


 


Representative of the Sudanese Communist Party Siddiq Yousif, on his part, said his party was not part of the negotiations with the NCP, while Deputy Secretary General of the Sudanese Congress Party Malik Abul-Hassan said that the alliance was keen on presence of the Umma party within its ranks despite the Umma’s negative messages to the Sudanese street and the alliance, stressing that the Umma party was not mandated to speak on their behalf.


 


In the meantime, Nugdallah explained that her party’s document included seven axis:


First: a new constitution standing on a civil state based on citizenship, a presidency representing all regions of Sudan, a democratically elected legislature, returning to the system of six-regions, enacting legislations of religious nature to be implemented on followers of the specific religion, the Muslim may oppose contradicting legislations to the Sharia through democratic means, offense against religious and ethnic sanctities must be prohibited, legislations reducing religious freedoms and human rights should not be tolerated.


Second: the relationship with south Sudan should be based on principles of mutual recognition of national sovereignty of the two states, a treaty for twin-ship of common interests, establishment of ad hoc committee to resolve the outstanding issue within two years, commitment to the federation system and the international human rights laws of the two states, establishment of an economic twin-ship, ensuring flexible borders and founding administrative mechanisms to keep security, commitment to the rights of Abyei, South Kordufan, commitment to the southerners rights in North Sudan and the northerners rights in the south, commitment to good neighborliness and non-intervention in the internal affairs of the other besides security and joint defense coordination, agreeing on post-separation issues.


Third: achieving the Darfur people’s rightful demands. This is to be done via 10 points: unity of the region and its borders, involvement in the presidency, returning the status of the region to it formation prior to 1989, achieving justice and stability, formation of a national authority for reconciliation and justice, individual and group compensations, establishment of a National Transitional Administration, allocation of the region shares in power and wealth on bases of population rate, convening of a comprehensive all inclusive  forum, commitment to good neighborliness, holding of a comprehensive forum to impart legitimacy for the agreement and include it in the constitution.


Fourth: public freedoms are sacred right that should be detailed and abide by, formation of an independent commission to be agreed upon at the national level to monitor that commitment with the support of the UN and the African Union, according to Article 27 of the 2005 constitution.


 


Fifth: commitment to an economic reform that achieves development, controls military and security expending  achieves the principles of the new millennium, establishes social care in education and health, and directs oil revenues to infrastructures, social services and agricultural, industrial and mineral investment.


Sixth: commitment to an external policy that respects international legitimacy and Sudanese duties in the regional fields and deals, in realistic manner, with the international judiciary institutions so that Sudan would restore its pioneering role.


 


Seventh: establishment of a national transitional government to implement the above said agenda within a transitional period that does not exceed 2 years.


 


Dr. Hassan Haj Attiya, member of the NCP External Relations sector, Dean Faculty of Economics at the University of Khartoum and a political science expert , speaking at the Umma Party Forum on Tuesday, April 12, 2011, stated that Sudan after July 9 would face serious challenges in the absence of political openness.


He urged the National Salvation Revolution officials to cope with the changes and be more open to reach consensus with the country’s major political forces.

Sudanow is the longest serving English speaking magazine in the Sudan. It is chartarized by its high quality professional journalism, focusing on political, social, economic, cultural and sport developments in the Sudan. Sudanow provides in depth analysis of these developments by academia, highly ...

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