Sudan’s PCP holds 1st conference since al-Turabi death

By Mohammed Amin

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Sudan’s opposition Popular Congress Party (PCP) has convened its first conference since the death of longstanding party leader Hassan al-Turabi last year.

The conference is expected to see the election of a new party secretary-general and propose candidates for membership in a consensus government that will soon be unveiled by President Omer al-Bashir.

Outgoing PCP Secretary-General Ibrahim al-Sanusi told conference attendees Friday evening that the party’s only condition for joining the new government was that civil liberties be respected.

He went on to urge all of the country’s political parties to join the ongoing process of national dialogue with a view to resolving Sudan’s many crises, including armed conflict and a foundering economy.

Al-Sanusi was appointed interim PCP secretary-general following al-Turabi’s death in March of last year.

Sources close to the conference told Anadolu Agency that Ali Alhaj, who had been close to al-Turabi, is seen as the most likely candidate for the party leadership out of seven candidates nominated by conference attendees.

One of Sudan’s most prominent opposition parties, the PCP has taken part in al-Bashir’s national dialogue initiative, first proposed by the president in 2014.

Most of the country’s other opposition parties have boycotted the dialogue initiative.

Nevertheless, the PCP remains in dispute with the ruling party on a range of issues, especially over the issue of citizens’ rights and freedoms.

According to recommendations that came out of the dialogue initiative, a new transitional government will soon be drawn up to manage the country’s affairs until polls are conducted in 2020.

The PCP split with al-Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party in 2000 over a host of political and organizational issues.