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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 29 June - 5 July 2000 Issue No. 488
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters 'Final break' in Khartoum
A MEETING of Sudan's ruling party in Khartoum on Monday highlighted the extent of the rupture between the coun-ry's president and his major political ri-al, writes Mohamed Khaled.
Following an eight-hour meeting of the National Congress's (NC) Shura Coun-il, attended mainly by supporters of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, par-icipants endorsed a series of decisions announced by the president on 6 May. At the top of the list of these was the suspen-ion of Al-Bashir's rival, Hassan Al-Turabi from the position of party sec-etary-general and the removal of most of his supporters from influential posts.
During the meeting, Al-Turabi's for-er position was filled through the elec-ion of President Bashir's assistant for political affairs, Ibrahim Ahmed Omar. These actions are being cited by observ-rs as the final break of all ties between Al-Bashir and Al-Turabi.
Al-Turabi, a charismatic Islamist lead-r, is believed to have been the main force behind the military coup that brought Al-Bashir to power in 1989. However, last December, Al-Bashir an-ounced that the time had come to end what he described as the "duality of power" in Sudan. Thus, he dissolved parliament, for which Al-Turabi was the elected speaker and declared a state of emergency. In May, the Sudanese pres-dent further marginalised Al-Turabi by removing him from the NC's lead-rship. Al-Turabi and his supporters argued that Al-Bashir's decisions were unconstitutional and boycotted the NC's Shura Council meeting on Monday.
The meeting was attended, however, by 388 of the 582-member Shura Coun-il and 300 voted in favour of Bashir's resolutions. According to the NC's regu-ations, the minimum required vote to pass resolutions is 292.
The next step for Al-Bashir to con-olidate his power will be the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections in October.
Several attempts at mediation between the former allies by Islamists from inside and outside Sudan failed to bring the two rivals to an agreement. Mediators came to the conclusion that, for the sake of the Islamist movement, the two should part ways peacefully. As a result, Al-Turabi is expected to announce soon the formation of his own political opposition party.
Algerians in Israel
IN THE FIRST visit of its kind, nine Al-erian journalists began a 10-day tour of Israel on Monday, meeting with Foreign Minister David Levy and Israeli leg-slators.
Israel and Algeria have no formal ties, but the group was invited by the foreign ministry as part of what Levy called a dialogue "between peoples and between individuals." A member of the Algerian group said their visit was for "explora-ion" and denied any links with the gov-rnment or that their visit implied that of-icial relations are being normalised.
The journalists' visit was subject to se-ere Algerian as well as Arab de-unciation. Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika was quoted by the of-icial Algerian News Agency as saying that "they [the journalists] do not belong to us and we do not belong to them." He added that the Algerians and their gov-rnment "do not accept to stab the Palestinians, the Syrians and the Lebanese in the back." Similar denunciations were issued by nearly all Algerian political parties.
The Cairo-based Federation of Arab Journalists called for punishment of the Algerian journalists for violating the federation's decisions banning any form of normalisation with Israel.
