The composition of a new Sudanese government piques fears of exclusion, writes Gamal Nkrumah A new Sudanese government of national unity will be announced on Wednesday 7 September, setting afloat the political process in the country. The composition of the new coalition government, it is hoped, will serve as a panacea for all Sudan's ills. But, if the composition of the new government doesn't reflect political realities on the ground, it might also send the country careering towards rough waters that may yet sink the entire Sudanese peace venture. According to the 9 January peace deal that ended 22 years of civil war between the Sudanese government and the armed opposition Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the ruling National Congress Party of Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir will form 52 per cent of the new coalition government. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the political wing of the SPLA, will be given 28 per cent of government positions with other opposition groups taking the remainder. However, at least two politically weighty opposition religious-based parties -- the Umma Party and the Popular Congress Party (PCP) -- are boycotting the new government. The Umma Party, led by former Prime Minister Sadig Al-Mahdi, has entered into an informal political alliance with the PCP, led by Sudan's chief Islamist ideologue, former speaker of the Sudanese parliament and brother-in-law of Al-Mahdi, Sheikh Hassan Al-Turabi. "The new government is undemocratic and unrepresentative of all the different Sudanese political groups," Al-Turabi told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Important political groups were not consulted and were not invited to take part in the new coalition government," he explained. "My prediction is that the new coalition government will create more problems for the long-suffering Sudanese people. The government is essentially a coalition of the SPLM and the regime of Al-Beshir, the two groups do not make up the entire Sudanese political establishment." Al-Turabi warned that the composition of the new government would further inflame political tensions in the country. He said that the problem was the lack of cross-party acceptance and a lack of human rights and true democratic practice. Yet the main issue at stake is who will get what cabinet post; especially among southern Sudanese politicians there is a scramble for positions. In a nation with a history blighted by years of conflict blamed on successive authoritarian regimes, the southern Sudanese have come to see themselves as victims of an unfair political set-up that systematically marginalises their interests. Some political commentators feel that there is a leadership crisis among the southern Sudanese. Very few southern leaders are able or willing to fill the late John Garang's shoes. Garang's widow -- widely expected to be handed a ministerial position -- remains very popular with the rank and file of the SPLM. She is charismatic in her own right, and people associate her politically with her late husband. She shares his ideals. "Rebecca Garang has become something of a political rallying point for the southern Sudanese people," Ghazi Suleiman, the head of the Sudanese Human Rights Society, told the Weekly. The southern Sudanese are generally weary of adversarial politics. "The sudden demise of Garang has left a huge political vacuum," Suleiman explained. "The situation is very complicated. Many southern politicians want power and they feel this is their chance. In Garang's absence there is a vicious power struggle. Even figures like Bona Malwal, an erstwhile foe of Garang, was sitting at the right hand side of Kiir during Garang's funeral," he added. Khartoum, meanwhile, has limited leverage over southern Sudanese politics. But it surely should use what little influence it has to push for peace and stability in southern Sudan, which is now an autonomous, self-governing region. The Sudanese government's decision to make peace with the southerners should therefore not be viewed as a signal that it has nothing to do with southern affairs. Indeed, breaking away is not the only way forward for southern Sudan. After nearly one month of what has effectively been political confusion in the wake of the death of SPLM leader Garang, Sudan now stands at the threshold of a new era. A host of foreign dignitaries visited Sudan this week. Both the US and the UN dispatched senior officials to the war-torn country. The most important external factor is the intervention of the US in the Sudanese political scene, and especially in mediating between the Sudanese government and armed opposition groups. "From the US perspective, Darfur simply cannot go on ... and we truly hope that this upcoming round, whenever it starts, will be handled efficiently and, hopefully, will be the last round," said Roger Winter, the US State Department chief envoy to Sudan. Winter was on a tour of Sudan that took him to the capital Khartoum, plus trouble spots in the east, west and south of the country. The head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres also visited Sudan this week. The harsh conditions endured by Sudanese refugees grabbed the attention of both Winter and Guterres. "This is the biggest displacement policy in Africa," Guterres said.
