Sudanese government and opposition forces are still bickering over the country's draft constitution, writes Gamal Nkrumah In a world of Jude Laws, even twerps and losers can claim their rights. In much the same vein, the Sudanese government claims that opposition forces are most welcome to add their imprint to the country's quest for a new national constitution. Sudanese opposition forces, however, argue that they can lay claim to solid achievements -- running the country, for example -- before having been unlawfully ousted by the current militaristic regime. The Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-Army (SPLM-A) have once again urged the different Sudanese opposition factions to take part in the drafting of a new Sudanese constitution. SPLM-A leader John Garang, who currently holds sway in Rumbek, the new capital of southern Sudan in the heart of Dinka country, is not scheduled to assume his new post as Sudanese vice-president until 9 July. Be that as it may, the Sudanese political crisis has intensified. The tentative peace in the south in the wake of the 9 January agreement between the SPLM-A and the Sudanese government has not assuaged simmering tensions. The war in Darfur marked a turning point, with failure to bring to book the Janjaweed militiamen accused of committing atrocities in Darfur as just one glaring example of the government's incompetence. It is against such a grim backdrop that the current constitutional crisis is set. A culture has emerged where the ends are justifying the means. Ironies don't come much more bitter than those endured by Sudan's leading Islamist ideologue Hassan Al-Turabi, leader of the opposition Islamist Popular Congress Party (PCP). "He is currently under house arrest in a government rest-house in the upmarket Khartoum suburb of Karfouri," Turabi's wife Wisal Al-Mahdi told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The villa is comfortable, but visitors are restricted and the place is swarming with security men. There are some 40 of them. He is not permitted access to the media," she added. Despite this, Al-Mahdi said her husband is in good health and writes extensively. Al-Turabi built his reputation as an outstanding scholar. He has more than 40 books to his name and was involved in most of past Sudanese constitutional debates, something which cannot be said of some of those now drafting the new constitution. Al-Turabi is a prolific writer who has written extensively while in prison. He has produced several treatises since his incarceration, addressing subjects such as the concept of jihad; terrorism and 11 September as well as his thoughts on religious rites in Islam. Al-Turabi has also completed a book entitled Politics and Government recounting the history and political significance of the rise to power and 12-year rule of Islamists in Sudan. Al-Turabi built a formidable reputation as a steely hardliner. Al-Mahdi also expressed with derision her indignation at the 60- member National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC) who are drafting Sudan's new constitution. "The head of the NCRC, Magzoub Khalifa, is a dermatologist, what does he know about legal matters? The most respected legal expert on the NCRC, Abdullah Idris, was a student of my husband," Al-Mahdi noted. She stressed that many of those involved with the drafting of Sudan's new constitution were at one point Al-Turabi's students. "He was their mentor. He is perhaps the most qualified Sudanese legal expert even though he was not invited to take part in drafting the constitution. He has vast international experience in the field. He drafted the constitution of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates," she explained. Al-Turabi's PCP has issued a statement rejecting the draft constitution. Al-Mahdi stressed that her husband represented an important constituency in Sudanese politics that cannot be excluded from the decision-making process. Al-Turabi's supporters felt they had someone they could trust. In any case he looked like a pretty straight-forward kind of guy -- a man of the people. Most of all they had had enough of the charlatans and spin doctors who masqueraded as the gurus of multi-party democracy. These civilian politicians could not be trusted to improve the run-down Sudanese economy or to end the war in the south of the country. But secular Sudanese opposition figures disagree, insisting that much of Sudan's current predicament has been caused by years of relentless spin and half truths churned out first by the then omnipotent National Islamic Front -- which Al-Turabi headed -- and now by the ruling National Congress Party. That in turn has meant that the Sudanese people no longer trust either Al-Turabi or the ruling regime on other issues. In effect, they have created a Sudanese constitutional crisis. Worse still, the man who made the NIF electable has himself become a liability. Members of the ruling NCP are over- represented at the NCRC. Even so, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and senior Sudanese officials continue to refute the charge. "The opposition was invited to draft the new constitution but they voluntarily refused to cooperate," Ambassador Hassan Abdel-Baqi Sudanese charges d'affairs in Cairo told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The constitutional crisis must be resolved as soon as possible," warned former Sudanese foreign minister Mansour Khaled, a member of the 17-member committee which drafted the constitution. "The draft constitution is an elaborate document that includes novel democratic features that are unprecedented in Sudanese history," Khaled, special advisor to SPLA leader John Garang told the Weekly. "Some of the most progressive features include a bill of rights, an independent Constitutional Court, clauses governing the impeachment of the Sudanese president who must be made accountable to the Sudanese parliament," he explained. Khaled said the new draft constitution would be agreed upon by consensus. He said, however, that it should maintain the integrity of the 9 January peace accord which ended 21 years of armed conflict between the Sudanese government forces and the SPLA. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the umbrella grouping composed of the leading northern Sudanese political groups and the SPLA, insists that the new constitution which is expected to enshrine a new set of rules which must first be approved by all the different Sudanese political groups. The Umma Party, which withdrew from the NDA three years ago, strongly objected to not being well represented at the Drafting Commission. Umma Party leader Sadig Al-Mahdi, former Sudanese prime minister, told the Weekly that he also rejects the draft constitution. "We were not consulted and were not represented on the NCRC," he said. "We are always ready to talk with the government to resolve the constitutional crisis," said Farouq Abu Eissa NDA spokesman and head of the Five Plus Five Committee charged with the implementation of the Cairo Agreement between the Sudanese government and the NDA. He said that he was concerned about the Sudanese political impasse. "There has been no breakthrough yet. We expect to fix a date for the resumption of talks in Cairo next week, Abu Eissa added. He pointed out that an unfortunate paradox is emerging. Fights over ethics and poisonous clashes over secularism continue unabated. Sudanese opposition forces increasingly look at themselves, not as upholders of law, but as guarantors of rights. Sudanese officials counter that opposition politicians are scoring cheap shots at the government's expense. The result is that both parties, government and opposition are today offering messages aimed primarily at their core supporters. These wrecking tactics could paralyse Sudan politically and leave the country in shambles. The arguments among Sudanese opposition forces are far from settled. The outcry has been intensified by what is seen as the co- optation by the government of the SPLM-A. These arguments are now spurring demands for change. In spite of their differing views, all Sudanese parties yearn for peace and change. The rumpus appears to make the debate over constitutional change premature. But as long as there are deliberations, there is a flicker of hope.
