Gamal Nkrumah interviews father and daughter Umma Party political duo, Sadig
and Mariam Al-Mahdi
Thursday,27 June, 2013
Imam Sayed Al-Sadig Al-Mahdi, as head of Sudan's National Umma Party and
Sudan's Ansar Movement, had come a long way fast. He became Sudan and
Africa's youngest prime minister at the age of 31. He served as Sudanese
prime minister from 1966-67, and again beginning in 1986, a term that ended
with the coup of 1989 by the National Islamic Front, a now defunct movement
that was headed by Sudan's chief Islamist ideologue, Sheikh Hassan
Al-Turabi, ironically a political rival and head of the opposition Islamist
Popular Congress Party (PCP) and Al-Mahdi's brother-in-law, husband to
Al-Mahdi's sister Wisal. After the coup, Al-Mahdi was imprisoned and
tortured. He left Sudan in exile in 1996, but returned triumphantly to the
country in 2000 from exile in Eritrea.
Al-Mahdi is an Islamist in orientation, a religious leader of paramount
importance in Sudan, even though he clearly advocates a "moderate" as
opposed to "militant" strand of Islam. In 2002, Al-Mahdi was elected head of
the Ansar Movement, a Sufi Order dedicated to the memory of his great
grandfather, Mohamed Ahmed of the Samaniya Sufi Order, the 19th century
Sudanese religious leader and the political unifier of modern Sudan.
Sudanese opposition leaders are notorious for turning procrastination into a
defining feature of their challenge to Al-Bashir's political hegemony.
Al-Mahdi is easy with people, even with his political opponents. His
careful, deliberate style is often attributed to his deep religiosity.
Al-Mahdi presides over a very tight-knit group of close confidants,
including his daughter Mariam. His son, Abdel-Rahman Al-Mahdi, in sharp
contrast, is a senior presidential advisor to Sudanese President Omar Hassan
Al-Bashir. Yet, Al-Mahdi, a seasoned Sudanese politician is ambiguous about
this particular relationship between his son and the Sudanese president. "My
son Abdel-Rahman is a free-thinking man. He is a nationalist who has Sudan's
national interests at heart. I cannot interfere in his political decisions
and I do not like to dictate my political positions or enforce them on my
sons or daughters. They are free to choose their political paths," Al-Mahdi
told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Al-Mahdi, like many religious-minded political leaders, has an unmistakable
air of serenity about him. It is an attitude that invariably infuriates his
political rivals and opponents. His detractors claim that they cannot
understand how he always appears to get away with what they describe as his
opportunism.
In spite of his relaxed, almost devil-may-care manner, and suave mannerisms,
Al-Mahdi cannot mask domestic policy strains that currently grip Sudan. He
is optimistic by nature. He says he is not particularly interested in
holding high office. He is essentially devoted to democracy, which he
believes is the key to unlocking Sudan's legion challenges.
Opposition to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) headed by Al-Bashir
is growing with a wide spectrum of political parties in Sudan. The economic
conditions in the country have deteriorated considerably with the loss of
vital oil revenue in the aftermath of the independence of South Sudan in
2011. The intensification of the fighting in the peripheral regions of the
country such as Darfur, southern Kordofan and Blue Nile where the
disgruntled mainly non-Arab indigenous population are furious about their
political marginalisation. Even so, it is often argued that the opponents of
Al-Bashir have failed to make political capital in spite of popular
discontent over soaring food prices.
I queried Al-Mahdi about the reason behind the Arab Spring uprisings that
appear to have largely passed Sudan by. He disagreed, explaining that there
have been a number of street protests by university students and workers,
but he stressed that the security forces clamped down hard on the
protesters. The frequent small street protests by students did not spread,
he admitted, partly because they did not coordinate with the political
parties. "Unfortunately, the protests were spontaneous and not properly
coordinated. Moreover, the political parties failed to organise the protests
to achieve specific political goals," Al-Mahdi expounded.
Al-Bashir, who came to power in 1989, still enjoys the support of the
military especially since he purged the army of anti-government forces.
Al-Bashir also has the tacit support of several key Arabised tribal
confederations in Darfur, Kordofan and other western Sudanese regions in
particular, and influential Islamist groups based in urban centres. He
crushed challengers to his rule in a 2010 election and dismisses the
opposition parties as insignificant.
The National Consensus Forces (NCF), an umbrella of the main opposition
parties in Sudan, is calling for a peaceful process of regime change and
genuine democratisation. They reject the armed struggle as a political
option and instead - as their very name implies - aim at national consensus.
A Sudanese leader in her own right and a distinguished opposition member of
the Umma National Party, Dr Mariam Al-Sadig Al-Mahdi is also an advocate for
human rights, democracy and women's rights. Her father is keen to support
his daughter and the women of Sudan to have a more influential role in the
decision-making process in the country.
"Women must assume more senior and responsible political positions in the
country. I fully support the political participation of Sudanese women. I
also want to see the youth taking a more active interest in Sudanese
politics. And, by youth I mean both young women and young men," Al-Mahdi
noted.
He relaxed in his reclining chair.
"We have lost certain political rights in the past two decades. Sudanese
women have traditionally been very active in politics. This is a very
serious setback for us as Sudanese women," Mariam Al-Mahdi chipped in.
"Sudan needs a comprehensive and holistic approach to resolve the country's
political and economic problems. The militarisation of politics in Sudan led
to the marginalisation of women," Mariam Al-Mahdi insists.
"Sudan needs radical reforms at the moment and the NCP needs to radically
reform its political, judicial and institutional structures and strengthen
the democratic institutions in the country. We in the Umma Party are trying
to tackle these problems and to focus the attention on these vital issues.
We need to work hand-in-hand with other political parties as well as civil
society organisations such as women's groups," Mariam Al-Mahdi expounded.
"We are advocating for all the opposition parties to stage a comprehensive
conference for peace and political change in Sudan," she added. The PCP also
is dedicated to an agenda of radical political reform. Al-Turabi, like
Al-Mahdi, was imprisoned in the Kobar (Cooper) Prison in March 2004.
However, both Mariam Al-Mahdi and her father are reluctant to get drawn into
the precise relationship between the Umma Party and Al-Turabi's PCP.
"We are bound to work together as opposition parties," Al-Mahdi conceded.
The great divide among Sudanese opposition parties in Sudan at the moment is
between those who prefer a non-violent, peaceful transition to democracy and
those who choose to take up arms against Al-Bashir's government.
However, Mariam Al-Mahdi, like her father, advocates civil transformation in
Sudan and rejects the personal conduct of certain leading members of the
ruling NCP - parties whom she declined to name. "There is rampant corruption
in the country. We are for civil disobedience, [but] do not pursue change by
the violent overthrow of the NCP," Mariam Al-Mahdi told the Weekly.
Numerous political parties that the Al-Mahdis work with are also interested
in peaceful methods of political change. "The regime is very weak at the
moment. We will begin today and in the next days to prepare popular
demonstrations," said Farouk Abu Eissa, head of the NCF and a veteran
Sudanese politician and former foreign minister.
Abu Eissa said the Sudanese opposition, including the NCF, was collaborating
closely with the armed Sudanese opposition alliance, the Sudanese
Revolutionary Front (SRF) led by the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement-North (SPLM-N). However, like Al-Madhi and his daughter, Abu Eissa
opposes what he describes as the "violent tactics" of the SPLM-N and the
SRF.
"The SRF is our strategic partner. We don't agree with them on using
military means, but we share the same goal of bringing down the regime," Abu
Eissa extrapolated.
I asked Al-Mahdi about the economic and political implications for Sudan as
far as the construction of the Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile in
neighbouring Ethiopia. Sudan, itself, is going ahead with plans to construct
its own mega dam on the Nile, the Meroe Dam.
"Ethiopia is a major mediator - perhaps the main one - between Juba and
Khartoum. It is prerequisite to cooperate economically and politically with
one of the most important regional powers. Ethiopia has also one of the
fastest growing economies in Africa and the world. Therefore, it is vitally
important to reach a peaceful agreement between the countries of the Nile
Basin, and especially Ethiopia. We need peace in Sudan and the entire region
to accelerate economic growth and facilitate development," Al-Mahdi
concluded.
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Received on Thu Jun 27 2013 - 18:04:16 EDT