Building a Political Incubator..!!

Al-Tahir Satti

:: According to Mohamed Siddig Ahmed Al-Jakoumi, head of the National Forces Coordination, Chairman of the Sovereignty Council General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan has agreed to drop the public-law cases filed against leaders of the “Somoud” alliance, as part of efforts to create a conducive environment and build confidence for holding a Sudanese dialogue in Khartoum..!!

:: I read the report and remembered the advice Sheikh Al-Arab “Abu Sin” gave his son when he asked permission to go to the Governor-General to obtain approval for a shop site in the market of Rufaa. Sheikh Al-Arab sighed deeply and advised his son: “Do not ask an Englishman for land. If he gives it to you, it is shameful; and if he refuses you, that is shameful too.”..!!

:: Will the activists of “Somoud” accept this amnesty being offered by Al-Burhan at Al-Jakoumi’s request, or will they reject it? The truth is that, faced with the choice of accepting or rejecting the offer, their situation is not much different from that of Sheikh Al-Arab “Abu Sin’s” son: if they accept it, it is “shameful,” and if they reject it, it is “shameful”..!!

:: If the “Somoud” activists accept the amnesty offered by Al-Burhan and Al-Jakoumi, this would mean that they need it in order to circumvent justice and evade punishment. Moreover, accepting the amnesty would amount to an acknowledgment that their position in the Battle of Dignity was mistaken—and, as you know, such an admission is considered “shameful”..!!

:: Yes, one thing politicians in our country consider shameful is admitting their mistakes; the real scandal, however, is apologizing for those mistakes. In Sudan’s history, there has never been a politician who admitted that his position was wrong and apologized for it. That is considered “shameful,” and the “Somoud” activists will not commit this “shame” by accepting Al-Burhan’s amnesty..!!

:: But if they reject the amnesty offered by Al-Burhan and Al-Jakoumi, that too would be “shameful,” because it would mean denying the crimes committed by the Janjaweed, in which they are partners through the neutral position they themselves describe as such. It would also mean rejecting the Sudanese dialogue, and this is more or less what they indicated less than 24 hours after Al-Jakoumi’s statement..!!

:: Yes, they rejected Al-Burhan and Al-Jakoumi’s gesture of goodwill, saying in their statement that the initiative calling for an amnesty for civilian forces turns the facts upside down, and that the measures taken against them “have no basis whatsoever from the outset.” This was their response, and it came swiftly—just hours after Al-Jakoumi’s statement..!!

:: In any case, you may remember that last May, commenting on the return of Al-Safna and others, I said that the defections currently under way do not involve the Janjaweed alone. There are also leaders within the “Somoud” alliance who are communicating with the government “secretly,” and they are on their way to Khartoum soon..!!

:: What is happening now is an effort to prepare the political environment—and Sudanese public opinion—to accept these returnees from “Abu Dhabi Somoud” back into the national fold, just as Al-Nour Qubba, Al-Safna, and all those who returned from the “Abu Dhabi Janjaweed” were welcomed back into the same fold..!!

:: Everything is being arranged, and Al-Jakoumi’s statements are part of an effort to “prepare the street.” What they call the Sudanese dialogue is merely a staging of scenarios for the return of some “Somoud” activists and some members who have broken away from the alliance, so that they can become an addition to a political incubator at the stage of its formation..!!

:: Accordingly, the purpose of all this uproar is to assemble a political incubator. Forty percent of the country’s territory is under the control of Janjaweed and Abu Dhabi-backed mercenaries, while Joseph Toka’s forces—with Ethiopian support—are pursuing a policy of “pulling at the periphery.” Nevertheless, the ultimate objective in Khartoum is to establish a political incubator for the government of the President of the Republic..!!