After Ali Al-Haj’s recent statements (Popular).. Attempt to jump from the sinking (Framework) ship

Report – Amir Abdel Majid

A brief statement by the Secretary-General of the Popular Congress Party, Ali Al-Haj, through which he brought back old questions about the framework agreement and sitting with the Rapid Support Forces RSF and the presence of leaders from Ali Al-Haj’s group at the latter’s Taqddum
coordination conference in Addis Ababa, which represents the political arm of the Rapid Support Forces RSF militia that committed horrific atrocities against the Sudanese.

Occupying homes
Ali Al-Haj had answered a question about his vision today after what happened to the framework agreement and the Rapid Support Forces RSF saying that if he had known that the Rapid Support Forces RSF would occupy people’s homes, he would not have sat with them and would not have agreed to sit with them and sign the framework agreement. Is this an attempt by Ali Al-Haj’s wing to disavow what happened or did he jump from the ship that is now about to sink after the Sudanese rejected the framework forces and accused them of supporting the Rapid Support Forces RSF militia, or does the man’s talk have other implications?

A violent shock:

The Popular Congress (PCP)had been subjected to a violent shock and deep disagreements that swept the party and turned it into two wings, one with the framework agreement, which is the wing of Ali Al-Hajj, Kamal Omar and others, and the other against the framework agreement.
Over time, the intellectual and political visions of the two wings diverged to a great extent, after more than two years of hidden and public movements that sought to address the violent cracks that struck the party and ended in a dead end with a decision by the Shura Council, which is the second highest organizational body in the party, to dismiss Secretary-General Ali Al-Hajj and cancel all decisions and alliances with political forces. The Shura Council based its decisions on what is known in the party’s bylaws as (the provisions of necessity and reality), which grant the Shura Council the right to take general exceptional measures.
The Shura Council’s decision led to the party’s division into two currents, one of which supports the Shura Group, which includes the organization’s historical leaders and a number of the sons of the party’s founder, Hassan al-Turabi, while Ali al-Hajj and Kamal Omar lead what is known as the General Secretariat Group.
The dispute began to appear publicly after Lt.Gen.al-Burhan’s decisions on October 25, 2021, which overthrew Hamdok’s government.
At the time, the Secretary-General issued a statement condemning what happened and describing it as a coup before the Shura Council intervened and withdrew it from the party’s social media sites.
Violent altercations then erupted between the two parties, after which Ali al-Hajj made decisions to dismiss the secretaries of the secretariats and a large number of the organization’s leaders, which increased tension and polarization in the party.
After that, contradictory positions and statements followed one after the other in the party, with well-known leaders in the Popular Congress announcing their support for the SAF moves to correct the political process and expand the base of participation, while Ali Al-Hajj’s group entrenched itself in its rejection of what happened and considered it a coup against the transitional period.
The quarrel continued in the party for many months until the war broke out in April, when the Shura Group announced its explicit support for the armed forces, while Ali Al-Hajj’s group remained committed to its presence within the framework agreement forces system, which is accused of supporting the militia. Strike the party’s unity
Ali Al-Haj’s recent statements have awakened many of the old positions of the Shura Council, which warned against identifying with the calls of the FFC at the time and entering into partnerships with them that might cause the party to lose its popular support and strike its unity and cohesion. Has Ali Al-Haj now realized, after he “divided the country and the party,” that his position was wrong and that the party he chose is not only the party that ignited the war, but also the party that is now stealing people’s homes, killing them, bombing their homes, and violating their honor? Is it a return to the square of the Shura Council group, which includes prominent leaders in the party, or is it just an attempt to leave a ship that is about to sink?
Rejecting the decisions
Political researcher and professor of political science Ahmed Omar Khojali said that the organizational procedures followed by the Shura Council and the decisions that Ali Al-Haj and his group rejected were correct, as the decisions were based on Article 26 on the provisions of necessity and reality, which are provisions that may be implemented if it is not possible to hold the General Conference, and the article is implemented by a decision of the Shura Council.
He added (What happened was an institutional coup against the Secretary-General after 1,000 members of the Popular Congress, including Turabi’s sons, signed a memorandum in December calling on the Shura Council to convene and elect a new General Secretariat, as the memorandum warned of numerous violations committed by Ali Al-Haj at the organizational level and proceeding with political alliances without the approval of the party’s institution), and he continued (Ali Al-Haj practiced dictatorship and rejected these decisions because they overthrew him, and he and those with him joined the FFC and then joined Progress until they ended up where they are today, the political wing of a militia that kills the Sudanese, and it is a very strange position for a party, any party that believes that democracy is the lever that will lead it to rule, to stand against its citizens and support those who kill them, drag them and violate their sanctities), and he said (I believe that What is happening in El Fasher is what made Ali Al-Haj come out to criticize the Rapid Support Forces RSF and try to jump ship, not primarily for political reasons,” he added, “Even if he jumps ship politically now, things on the ground within the party have changed, just as many things have changed in the political scene, and I do not think that the man’s experience and cunning, which led him to escape many political stumbling blocks, will help him now.”