Opposition seeks to oust regime

Farouk Abu Eissa denied rumours of infighting within NCF Khartoum - Abedalgoum Ashmeag The chairman of the Sudanese opposition group National Consensus Forces (NCF) has confirmed that the organisation is still committed to toppling the country’s current regime, lead by President Omar al-Bashir.  In an exclusive interview with Arabstoday, Farouk Abu Eissa denied rumours of political infighting within the NCF, saying that any differences between factions are “minor.” “These differences are minor, non-essential and do not threaten the alliance's internal cohesion," said Abu Eissa. Referring to the rumours which he described as a “cause for concern”, the opposition leader accused the Sudanese government of projecting its problems onto the alliance." "Whenever the regime faces internal problems and infighting as is happening now, security authorities start leaking reports aimed at damaging the opposition and portraying it as embroiled in conflict,” said Abu Eissa. "Nobody denies that slight disagreements have been ongoing in recent days. That is just down to the different visions that each opposition party has towards issues and how they should be tackled. But today I can confirm that we have moved beyond those problems.” "The situation is neither grave nor a cause for concern. We are not seeking to safeguard our internal workings against the regime's plots to weaken and disrupt the opposition," he added. Speaking about recent reports suggesting that some opposition parties were pushing to expel the National Umma Party (NUP), led by former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, from the NCF, Abu Eissa said: "No-one is pushing for any such thing. We're all agreed on unity and focusing on fighting the regime and bringing more and more pressure to bear on it to force it out tomorrow if not today."  Abu Eissa was keen to discuss President al-Bashir’s recent announcement that he won't be seeking re-election. "The opposition doesn't take issue with al-Bashir. It takes issue with the whole regime and the president is only part of it. As far as we're concerned, it doesn't matter a great deal if the president says he will or won't be putting himself forward for re-election," Abu Eissa told Arabstoday. The news come after Sudan’s Vice President, Ali Osman Taha's announced in a press conference on Tuesday that the government is willing to meet with all opposition camps (including Hasan al-Turabi) in order to find common ground and maintain national unity. "The opposition is determined to remove the regime, not conduct talks with it," replied Abu Eissa.