Monday, January 12, 2009
AFP Photo: Sudanese Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi speaks during a press conference in Khartoum, 2008. Turabi... |
KHARTOUM (AFP) - Sudan's most iconic opposition leader who has inspired Islamist movements across the world on Monday warned the country was at risk of becoming worse than Somalia should central authority break down.
Hassan Turabi was speaking during an interview with reporters in Khartoum that concentrated on the possible fallout if, as expected, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Beshir.
When asked about a "worst case scenario" for Sudan, the frequently jailed opposition leader evoked Somalia, which has been engulfed in civil war since 1991 and where no central government is strong enough to impose its authority.
"This is worse than Somalia, if we lose any order of authority in the constitution. We are not one people like the Somalis or one religion or one language. We are a diversity of peoples," Turabi said.
Beshir rules over a fragile power-sharing government between former warring parties north and south, which ended decades of devastating civil war in 2005 although regional conflict continues to blight the biggest country in Africa.
Fighting in the country's western region of Darfur, where the ICC prosecutor wants Beshir arrested on 10 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, is poised to enter a seventh year.
Turabi, a brainchild behind the Islamist-inspired bloodless 1989 coup that swept Beshir to power but now his bitter nemesis, said the president should hand himself over to save the country from possible UN sanctions.
"Politically we think he is culpable... He should assume responsibility for whatever is happening in Darfur, displacement, burning all the villages, rapes, I mean systematic rapes, continuously, I mean on a wide scale and the killing.
"Six million of the Sudanese are now paralysed, no agriculture, no animal farming or rearing. He is responsible and we condemn him," said Turabi referring to the estimated population of Darfur.
"He should go there and defend himself... We are against the system of justice in Sudan... but politically he's guilty. No doubt about it.
Turabi speculated that "pressure from outside" on the government could encourage resistance movements, alluding to but not naming Darfur's Justice and Equality Movement that attacked the capital last May.
Turabi, one of the current regime's fiercest critics and regarded as a driving force behind the introduction of Islamic Sharia law in Sudan that in turn sparked rebellion in the south, was briefly detained after the JEM attack.
"They (resistance movements) might then do something... They say the whole country should be reorganised... that's why they attacked the capital."
"They may do something and then this will carry the others and then the south, they are mostly for the court because they get all the assistance from outside... They cannot go and stand up against international institutions.
"That would disturb the Sudan very much. If we lose authority, or disturbance of the existence of any authority, dictatorship or at all, then Sudan will be in a worse mess than Somalia, unfortunately," he warned.
Source: AFP, Jan 12, 2009
Somalia is being trashed every where in this world. The west coined the Balkanization and the Africans the Somalization!
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The situation in Sudan has nothing to do with Bashir. It has something to do with the natural resources in that country. Any responsible leader in that country will find himself/herself the same fate that Bashir had found himself. I am not big fan of Bashir as he betrayed the Somali and many Muslim resistant groups but at least he has developed his country. Today, Sudan is self sufficient when it comes to food and energy and oil and gas explorations are still taking place. The Southern and Darfur rebels were created, funded, and when they could not succeeed the Sudanese government has to be overthrown. If he was a good friend with the Anglo Saxon countries, he would not have been in trouble but he went to the Chinese and defied these guys and now the country is burning. The Somalia case is no different, the Somali QAB has to be broken and when that is secured, the war will stop according to the Saxon boys.
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MO5 lool ,
excellent sxb, but according arab culture to rule and adopted by us african bidees, the seat is yours as long as if not overtrown by someone. The exections are our late president Aden Cadde, may allah give him jannah and my distant uncle (barlowe) Yusuf who admitted he couldn't do the job and quit it.
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I care about Sudan as much as I care about Somalia.
Bashir has to sacrifice himself for the sake of his people and look for a deal that can save his a$$ and his nation.
i would tell him not to wait till the last minute,when Khartoum becomes like Mogadishu 1991!!! Resign with a deal.
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I am not interested about Turabi in Sudan, Ahmed Chalapi in Iraq or any son b*ch of carab traitor. I would appreciate if any of you gets a solution to our own mess.
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In the 1990s, Hassan Turabi has offered the west to spy on all of the islamic movements across the Muslim world provided that he be given the power in Sudan. That how hypocrite the man is.
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Doctor'ow xaalkaa ba, ama with this attitude Somaliyeey xaalkeen ba, Doc. KKKKK.
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What a striking similarity between Dr Turabi and Sharif defeatist mentality. Once a darling of Islamist in many parts of Islamic world, this social hypocrite, Dr Turabi began to degenerate into power hungry cycle and open sellout p*mp. Is it ikhwan trade mark business? From Egyptian Muslim brotherhood to ISNA they are sellout and weak to western conspiracy. Instead of defending his Ikhwan men like Bashir who fail to implement Shareecah he is asking so called ICC to arrest him and outsource his judgment. What a social hypocrite!!
Adduunyo xaalkaa ba’
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