Sudanese Islamist signs opposition charter

Youssef al-Koda, head of Sudan’s Islamist al-Wasat party signed the controversial New Dawn Charter on Thursday, following an initial agreement by Sudanese opposition and rebel groups in Kampala earlier this month. Al-Koda reportedly arrived in Kampala earlier this week to hold talks with rebel leaders representing the Sudanese Revolutionary Front [SRF]. The signing was attended by chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North [SPLM-N], Malik Agar and head of the Justice and Equality Movement [JEM], Jibril Ibrahim. Other leading opposition figures were present. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, al-Koda attacked Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party [NCP], accusing it of corruption and exploiting religion to keep its grip on power. "The NCP has ruled all this time as if they were mandated by God and not mandated by the people," he said. "This misunderstanding has had terrible implications on public funds,” the Islamist leader argued, “because the party does not separate between the government’s pocket and its own.” A joint statement signed by al-Koda and Agar demanded that Sudanese citizenship “should form the basis of all rights without regard to religion, race, colour, ethnicity, political or geographical affiliation.” Both opposition figures also demanded guarantees of freedom of expression and belief under the rule of law, with an independent judiciary and a peaceful transfer of power away from current President Omar al-Bashir. The New Dawn Charter, which has attracted the ire of the ruling National Congress Party [NCP], calls for the overthrow of al-Bashir’s regime, whilst also demanding an end to the perceived exploitation of religion in Sudanese politics. The Sudanese government has interpreted the agreement as a demand for secularism. Some of the agreement’s signatories had included the National Umma Party [NUP], the Popular Congress Party [PCP] and Sudanese Communist Party [SCP], but the groups later distanced themselves from the Charter, expressing reservations about some of its clauses. The Sudanese government has launched a fierce media campaign against the deal since early January, detaining party representatives who were present at the Kampala meeting and threatening to prosecute all signatories.