Sudan releases political prisoners even as it signs a peace deal with the umbrella opposition, writes Gamal Nkrumah In a surprise move, the Sudanese authorities announced on Tuesday the release of all political prisoners and detainees on the eve of the Muslim feast of Eid Al-Adha. The Sudanese government said that the move was a goodwill gesture. But its start has hardly been propitious. The leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) Hassan Al- Turabi and his son Siddig still languish in jail in spite of Khartoum's declaration that all political prisoners have been released. The question now is whether the Sudanese government's hardline stance on Al-Turabi will nudge Sudanese opposition forces and especially the Islamist constituency that was once closely aligned to the government of President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, or simply provoke new resentment among the disgruntled political groups in Sudan. It is premature to conclude that the honeymoon between the Sudanese government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Sudan's largest umbrella opposition organisation grouping mainly northern Sudanese political parties and the SPLA, will last forever. Nor does it necessarily mean that all the war- torn country's political crises are over. Many outstanding problems need to be ironed out. The political and tribal tensions simmering in eastern Sudan threaten to boil over into all-out war if they are not contained. Representatives of the ethnic Beja in eastern Sudan boycotted the Cairo talks even though they are founding members of the NDA. Indeed, one of the few sticking points in the recent peace agreement between the NDA and the Sudanese government is the volatile situation in eastern Sudan. The NDA and the Sudanese government signed a tentative accord in Cairo under the auspices of the Egyptian government. A final agreement between the NDA and the Sudanese government will be signed in Cairo on 12 February. The international community welcomed the Sudanese peace accord. "This preliminary agreement positions Sudan to end more than a dozen years of low-level conflict in the east and north of the country and follows the end of decades-long civil war in the south," said Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew. "This bodes well for real progress for peace throughout Sudan in the near future," Pettigrew added. Small wonder then that the Sudanese government pronounced itself delighted with the deal. Here was praise far beyond what Khartoum was accustomed to hearing. "The two parties have reached an agreement on all political, constitutional and legislative questions defining steps towards democratic change in Sudan," NDA Vice- Chairman Abdul-Rahman Said told Al- Ahram Weekly. "This agreement establishes a practical solution to the question of political reform and democratic transformation in Sudan," Said added. The prickly subject of religion continues to be something of an obstacle to democratic transformation in Sudan. The Sudanese government wants the whole of northern Sudan subject to Sharia law, but many northern Sudanese political parties insist on the separation of religion from the state. "Non- Muslims are going to be subjected to Sharia law. From bitter experience we know that in the past underprivileged and jobless southerners were the first to suffer from amputation of limbs even though they were not Muslim. That is why we do not want Khartoum to be subject to Sharia law," Farouk Abu Eissa, the former head of the Cairo-based Arab Lawyers Union and official spokesman for the NDA told the Weekly. Abu Eissa stressed that civil liberties and democratic rights cannot be restricted simply to southern Sudan. The people of northern Sudan are entitled to civil liberties, democracy and human rights as well. He said that many political groups in northern Sudan do not accept the concept of a theocratic state with limited civil liberties as propagated by the Sudanese government. A final and comprehensive peace agreement was signed between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) -- the country's most powerful and influential armed opposition group, in NairobiKenya on 9 January. According to the Sudanese peace deal in Kenya, the southern Sudanese will enjoy a six-year period of self- rule before deciding in a referendum whether to secede or remain part of Sudan. It is hoped that the Cairo agreement will further cement peace and political reform in Sudan and institute democratic changes in the country. The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the two main armed opposition groups in Darfur are not officially part of the Cairo talks, even though the SLA is a fully-fledged member of the NDA. The two groups, currently holding peace talks with the Sudanese government in the Nigerian capital Abuja, have in the past threatened to suspend the talks indefinitely if the Sudanese government does not stop the offensive against the SLA and JEM. "The government is not serious about seeking peace in Darfur," Ali Al-Haj, secretary-general of the opposition Islamist PCP, once closely aligned with the Sudanese government, told the Weekly. Now based in Bonn, Germany, Al- Haj is the effective leader of the PCP abroad. He warned that political reform in Sudan cannot take place with a leading political figure like Al-Turabi incarcerated. Wissal Al-Mahdi, wife of Al- Turabi, said that her husband and son Siddig are still imprisoned in Cooper Prison, Khartoum. During a telephone interview she broke down in tears and told the Weekly that she had expected to see her husband and son released before the Eid, but that her hopes were dashed. "There can be no real political transformation in Sudan without the release of my husband. These agreements cannot usher in lasting peace in Sudan without the release of all Sudanese political prisoners."
