PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Sudanese opposition launches campaign to topple President El-Bashir
Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The Sudanese Opposition National Umma Party (NUP) on Monday said a campaign it launched on Sunday, to collect signatures with the aim of topping the government, had been a success.
The Umma Party of former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi said it launched the campaign to collect millions of signatures from Sudanese nationals at home and abroad with a view to overthrowing the present government, but the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said its regime could only be dethroned through the ballot boxes.
NUP Deputy Secretary-General, Dr. Abdul Rahman al-Ghali, told journalists on Monday that about 1,000 persons, mostly leading NUP members in Khartoum State, witnessed the launching ceremony which was presided over by the NUP Chief Sadiq al-Mahdi.
Dr. Ghali quoted Mahdi as saying at the ceremony that his party was opposed to the armed option sponsored by the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) and also to the NCP position of maintaining the status quo.
Mahdi said his Party opted to topple the government by way of collecting the signatures, public meetings, debates, peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins till the NCP government is removed from power.
After addresses from the NUP Secretary-General, Ibrahim al-Amin, and other leading officials of the Party, Mahdi was the first person to append his signature on what the party called the “Memorandum for Liberation”.
Ghali said the NUP Politburo Chairperson, Sara Nugdalla, would be in charge of the campaign to collect signatures across the Sudan and the world.
In his reaction to the campaign, the ruling NCP Information Secretary, Yassir Yusuf, said the present government, which he said gained legitimacy from free, fair and internationally-monitored elections, can be toppled only through the polling boxes, rather than by collecting signatures.
Yusuf was quoted by the official SUNA news agency as advising the NUP and other parties to abide by peaceful democratic processes which he said were the only way for realizing the country’s supreme interests.
“There is no room for any talk away from the democratic course that observes the law and the constitution,” he said.
Yusuf said the NUP and other political parties had to wait for the general elections, which he said would take place shortly, to allow the people “to choose between us and the other parties”.
It is not yet clear whether or not the authorities would permit the NUP to proceed with its plans as public meetings and demonstrations can be staged only on clearance by the security authorities.
Al Mahdi was the prime minister when Omar al-Bashir, then a brigadier general, overthrew the elected government in a bloodless coup on 30 June, 1989.
-0- PANA MO/VAO 8July2013
The Umma Party of former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi said it launched the campaign to collect millions of signatures from Sudanese nationals at home and abroad with a view to overthrowing the present government, but the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) said its regime could only be dethroned through the ballot boxes.
NUP Deputy Secretary-General, Dr. Abdul Rahman al-Ghali, told journalists on Monday that about 1,000 persons, mostly leading NUP members in Khartoum State, witnessed the launching ceremony which was presided over by the NUP Chief Sadiq al-Mahdi.
Dr. Ghali quoted Mahdi as saying at the ceremony that his party was opposed to the armed option sponsored by the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) and also to the NCP position of maintaining the status quo.
Mahdi said his Party opted to topple the government by way of collecting the signatures, public meetings, debates, peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins till the NCP government is removed from power.
After addresses from the NUP Secretary-General, Ibrahim al-Amin, and other leading officials of the Party, Mahdi was the first person to append his signature on what the party called the “Memorandum for Liberation”.
Ghali said the NUP Politburo Chairperson, Sara Nugdalla, would be in charge of the campaign to collect signatures across the Sudan and the world.
In his reaction to the campaign, the ruling NCP Information Secretary, Yassir Yusuf, said the present government, which he said gained legitimacy from free, fair and internationally-monitored elections, can be toppled only through the polling boxes, rather than by collecting signatures.
Yusuf was quoted by the official SUNA news agency as advising the NUP and other parties to abide by peaceful democratic processes which he said were the only way for realizing the country’s supreme interests.
“There is no room for any talk away from the democratic course that observes the law and the constitution,” he said.
Yusuf said the NUP and other political parties had to wait for the general elections, which he said would take place shortly, to allow the people “to choose between us and the other parties”.
It is not yet clear whether or not the authorities would permit the NUP to proceed with its plans as public meetings and demonstrations can be staged only on clearance by the security authorities.
Al Mahdi was the prime minister when Omar al-Bashir, then a brigadier general, overthrew the elected government in a bloodless coup on 30 June, 1989.
-0- PANA MO/VAO 8July2013
