Sudan: Are The Brakes Coming Off The Train?

By Abdelfatah Arman

March 21, 2013 (SSNA) — Last month has marked the 10th anniversary of Darfur conflict where embattled President Omer Al-Basher of Sudan has orchestrated a genocidal war against the Darfurains in western Sudan. Darfur holocaust was not enough for bloodthirsty dictator Basher, hence, he has waged another deadly ground and aerial assaults on the Nuba Mountain and Blue Nile’s people which has led more than one million and half civilians from both areas to flee their homes and take refuge in neighboring countries such Ethiopia and the Republic of South Sudan.

General Al-Basher and his wacky-birds are ravaging Sudan with conflicts and genocidal war against marginalized citizens of Sudan not because they are leading a holy war on behalf of Islam as they claimed, but because the wanted to retain power to themselves by crushing all democratic and revolutionary forces all over Sudan.

Defiant Al-Basher has divided his own party, The National Islamic Front (NIF) in 1997, and arrested his mentor, Hassan Turabi who was the mastermind of Al-Basher’s coup in 1989 and the Godfather of what so called the Islamic movement in Sudan . Furthermore, indicted Al-Basher has divided the country itself in 2011, and has been traveling in this bumpy road for the past two decades will not change his repressive policies unless there is a siege of crisis and international pressure are mounting on his crumble regime.

Obviously, the regime is looking for a lifeline that could save the regime from the imminent collapse. Given this fact, Al-Basher met with Al-Turabi about two month ago to search for a safe landing for the regime. According to reliable sources that Al-Turabi didn’t mind extending his hand Al-Basher in order to save the remnant of Islamic movement. The Berlin meeting with VP Ali Osman Taha and Ali Hajj Mohammed, Al-Turabi’s aide aimed to discuss the unity of the Islamists, and to search for a solution to the regime’s crisis over Sudan’s, according to multiple sources in Berlin.

No doubt, Sudan is at crossroads and heading towards a disintegration due to the bad policies that has been implemented by Al-Basher’s regime since 1989. After the cession of south, Sudan becomes like dominoes’ game, when one cube falls down, the rest of the cubes do. Al-Basher has two options, is either to change or be changed. Al-Basher can call on a national conference by inviting all stakeholders for a roundtable discussion to where all parties participate and agree on a blue-print of a national project that would lead to change on the power’s status quo and ends the war in Darfur, Nuba Mountain and Blue Nile. In addition, leaders can agree on a process of reconciliation and form a committee for reconciliation and reparation and brining those perpetrators who committed atrocities in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile.

The second option, Al-Basher refusal to negotiate a holistic peace-settlement with The Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) and the rest of the democratic forces would lead to more suffering for the Sudanese people and destroy Sudan’s infrastructure, or what’s left of it. The Sudanese people are eager to freedom, peace, justice and democracy, and they are able to remove two dictatorial regimes before, and the will bring this one down. It is just a matter of time before Al-Basher is being ousted.

The international community’s role in getting rid of dictators is complementary. Nevertheless, superpowers such as the U.S. and Britain have a moral commitment in stopping the genocide in Darfur, and President Obama pledged in 2008 that he would never allow repeating the tragedy of Rwanda in Darfur if he was elected as president. The Obama Administration’s silence on Sudan makes us question how serious the U.S. commitment to human rights and democracy , because U.S. officials in Washington preach others about the importance of freedom, the role of law and democracy without those issues are reflected on the U.S. foreign strategy to solve the crisis in Sudan.

The Sudanese people are looking for a strong position from the United States to deal with multiple crisis that Sudan has been suffering from, and not a lip-service statements.

The Author can be reached at fataharman@hotmail.com