Al-Bashir at Stake

The majority of the Sudanese migrants whom I know personally, or whom I have met in conferences and on various occasions, wish to see the departure of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s regime from power sooner than later, after the man governed the country for around 24 years without accomplishing anything to immunize the country’s stability. He even drowned in affiliation and failure, led his country towards a siege and sanctions and personally became the object of international pursuit. Moreover, Al-Bashir is the Sudanese president who signed Sudan’s division into two “Sudans,” one in the North and one in the South, due to his practices, policies and provocations. And despite all that he has committed, he is still holding on to power, dancing with canes and defying his oppositionists in all the forums, at a time when the situation in his country is deteriorating and growing more complicated. According to colleague Maawiya Yass, the only beneficiaries from this situation are the members of the Quintet. Al-Bashir came to power following the 1989 coup, and his regime was the object of numerous counter-coups, the most prominent of which was the Ramadan 1990 coup during which 28 officers were arrested and executed. At the end of 1999, Al-Bashir disbanded parliament, thus rendering his lifetime companion Hassan al-Turabi one of the most famous oppositionists of his government. Last Thursday, Khartoum announced the thwarting of a “sabotage attempt” – as it dubbed it – aiming at assassinating the symbols of the regime. During the operation, it arrested 13 military and civilian figures affiliated with the ruling Islamic movement, namely former Security and Intelligence Chief General Salah Abdullah Gosh. And ever since South Sudan’s secession in July 2011, the country has been witnessing an action led by Islamic – both military and civilian – elements, calling for reforms, the introduction of change at the level of the system of governance, and the reviewing of the political choices which led Sudan to the state of division, and could even lead to further schism. There is no doubt that the demands made by the latter popular groups which are calling for reform, change, the fighting of corruption and the handling of the domestic files, are the same ones put forward by groups, parties and popular gatherings in the majority of the Arab countries, some of which have managed to take power while others are still resisting. What is certain is that the stories and tales coming from Sudan are numerous, and that most of them point to the fact that Al-Bashir is governing Sudan with a security grip. Indeed, about a month ago, journalist Somaya Hundosa escaped the Security Service’s grip after she was tortured, burned and had her head shaved, and after she was put in prison with male inmates suffering psychological problems due to torture. As for the media, it lacks any margin of freedom, while the papers are blocked and prohibited and subjected to two types of censorship, which the Sudanese journalists have come to dub “pre-censorship” and the “post-censorship.” In the first case, a censor from the security and intelligence apparatus comes to the paper’s headquarters to review it, thus acting as a super-chief-editor, taking out whatever reports and articles he wants and changing the headlines as he deems fit. In the case of post-censorship, the security elements seize the paper while it is still in the printing house and confiscate the publication, in order to afflict the publisher with the greatest economic and moral damage possible. And although the authority established a press and publications council to monitor the newspapers’ performance, the security and intelligence apparatus is still the one mainly controlling these newspapers, whether through censorship, prohibition, banning or arrest. The same applies to satellite channels, considering that the regime controls more than ten of them. And if any independent person or one who belongs to another party decides to establish a satellite channel, this channel is fought by blocking advertisements on it until it suffocates and dies. This is due to the fact that advertisements are only available to the companies owned by the ruling party and the National Security Service. Hence, the government possesses Al-Fada’iya al-Sudaniya, Al-Nil al-Azrak, Al-Chourouk and Sahour (all three owned by Al-Bashir’s brother), along with Al-Bahr al-Ahmar, Al-Khartoum and Um Darman (owned by a journalist from the ruling Islamic Front). As for the papers that are not owned by the ruling party, they are undermined by the regime. By following what is happening on some known Sudanese websites, one can detect the mounting signs of disgruntlement and the calls on Al-Bashir to present his resignation and surrender power to the people, in order to maintain the country’s unity and build a new future for the people of Sudan, regardless of the factions, tribes and parties to which they belong. What also seized my attention were the calls for disengagement between Khartoum and Tehran, after an Iranian ship recently docked in Sudan and Israel’s bombardment of an arms factory outside of Khartoum. Warnings were thus made to the regime against implicating Sudan in regional axes and international equations threatening the country’s sovereignty and interest. One of the comments even read: “Historically and in our present times, the Sudanese have always focused not on Iran, but rather on the Arabs (Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the other Gulf states). Therefore, we should enhance the relations with the Arab countries, not Iran and its allies.” What is certain is that if Al-Bashir does not leave before it is too late, he will do so via a popular revolution or a coup, just like he came through a coup.  --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.