By Mohamed Khaled John Garang, leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), affirmed his commitment to Sudan's territorial unity but said it must be laid down on a new basis. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday night following a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Youssef Wali, Garang also said that Egypt should play a role in overthrowing the Islamist government in Khartoum and join relief efforts in the famine-stricken south. Garang was in Cairo for a conference of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the umbrella of the Sudanese opposition, being hosted by Egypt for the first time. "Having the meeting in Cairo is no small thing," Garang said. "It will send an important signal to our people who are demonstrating in Khartoum's streets at the moment against the National Islamic Front (NIF) government." Other opposition leaders said the fact that Cairo agreed to host their gathering signalled a major shift in Egyptian policy in their favour. In addition to Wali, the opposition leaders were received yesterday by President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. The Cairo conference followed the collapse of the initiative made by the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development to arrange a reconciliation between the Khartoum government and the opposition alliance. The conference came at a time when the war in southern Sudan was escalating, famine had taken a horrendous toll and there were increasing signs that a people's uprising was in the making. The conference is attended by all opposition leaders, from across the political spectrum, including trade unions and military opposition groups. The participants included Sadiq Al-Mahdi, former prime minister and head of the Umma Party, Mohamed Othman Al-Mirghani, president of the NDA, Tigani Al-Tayeb, secretary of the Central Committee of the Sudanese Communist Party, Abdel-Aziz Khaled, leader of the Sudanese Allied Forces, General Abdel-Rahman Said, NDA military coordinator, and Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, president of the Sudanese Women's Union. Garang said the fact that the meeting was held in Cairo will send "a signal to our soldiers on different fronts in southern, eastern and western Sudan. By this move Egypt has practically and effectively joined the struggle of the Sudanese people. We will not forget what Egypt has given." The southern Sudanese rebel commander said the Khartoum government "is a regime that cannot be reformed or improved and must be removed. This is the message that we want to convey". Garang said that he was not against Islam. "We are against only one Muslim, Hassan Al-Turabi," the NIF leader and speaker of the Sudanese parliament, widely believed to be the power behind the throne in Khartoum. "I want to assure everyone of our commitment to the unity of Sudan but it must be on a new basis," Garang said. "Egypt can help in many ways in the removal of the NIF regime." Turning to the famine in southern Sudan, Garang said "our people there see only European relief workers. It would be a good gesture to our people to see Arab relief workers, starting with Egypt. This is the other message I want to convey to the Egyptian and Arab peoples and governments." Alluding to the bombing of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Garang said: "Ideologically and practically, the NIF is very near to what happened in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam." Al-Mahdi said that Egypt, by hosting the conference, "is making a serious move at a crucial time... We believe that Egyptian support... will be very crucial. A new democratic regime in the Sudan will help bring about a new situation in the Nile basin and in the Red Sea region and bring to an end any Arab-African conflict." Al-Mirghani said that "concerted Arab moves were needed to help the Sudanese people end the tragedy they are experiencing under the NIF regime. Egyptian support for the struggle of the Sudanese people did not come as a surprise since it stems from the specificity of the relationship between the two countries." Farouk Abu Eissa, the NDA spokesman, told Al-Ahram Weekly that "the main question to be answered by the Cairo meeting is what is to be done in light of the repeated failure of peace negotiations between the government and the SPLM". HE continued by saying the gathering would debate the action that should be taken to speed the overthrow of the Khartoum government as well as the measures necessary for ensuring Sudan's territorial integrity "on a new basis".
