Mantis and all, also the growing influence of the more radical Turabi could add a few more bumps on the road to peace.
Turabi retakes reins of power in Sudan ú
KHARTOUM, Oct 16 (AFP) - Sudanese Islamic leader Hassan
al-Turabi has reclaimed the leadership of the ruling National Congress (NC) party from his rival President Omar al-Beshir in the NC General Assembly earlier this month. ú
Mustering his political skills and experience, Turabi has
managed to retake the NC reins which he lost in December 1998 when 10 NC members shifted allegiance to Beshir. ú
Since that defeat, Turabi has been touring the country to build up a support base from his old National Islamic Front (NIC) which later formed the National Congress. ú
As a result of the tour, Turabi won support of 6,000
representatives of the 26 states in the 10,000-strong NC General Assembly in addition to his numerous followers in the capital Khartoum State. ú
With his power waning in the NC, Beshir bowed to the decision of a mediatory committee on October 9 recommending Turabi as NC secretary general and chairman of the powerful NC Leadership Authority while Beshir would be NC chairman. ú
At that same meeting held in tandem with a session of the NC
General Assembly, Beshir was designated as the candidate for the National Congress in the next presidential elections to be held in 2001. ú
Beshir's authority as NC chairman would be limited to presiding over meetings of the General Assembly held every four years, a position described by a senior NC official as "honorary". ú
The 60-member Leadership Authority which was formed with
Turabi's supporters on Thursday set up a seven-member committee that will be in charge of appointing ministers and other senior government officials in addition to NC officials. ú
Headed by Turabi, this committee includes the two deputies of the NC secretary general, the president, the two vice-presidents --Ali Osman Mohamed Taha and George Kongor Arop -- and the leader of the NC parliamentary group who is yet to elected, as members. ú
The committee will, accordingly, decide on any government
reshuffle, with one expected in the coming days. ú
Turabi recently said that there were too many ministers in the government, hinting that he would cut down the cabinet portfolios, especially the junior ministers, saying there should be only two of them, one in the foreign ministry and another in the finance ministry.
eom Ed |
