Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood to Mediate in Khartoum Split

5 June 2011

Khartoum — A delegation from Sudan’s Popular Congress Party (PCP) held a rare meeting yesterday in Cairo with the head of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Badie.

The meeting is expected to be followed by a summit between Badie and PCP leader Hassan Al-Turabi though a date and place has not been specified yet.

Al-Mahboub Abdel-Salam, a leading PCP figure, said that Badie plans to visit Sudan soon and will attempt to mediate between Turabi and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) headed by president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir.

Bashir came to power through a coup in 1989 with the support of the then National Islamic Front (NIF) led by Hassan Al-Turabi but the pair fell out following the introduction of a bill to limit the president’s powers in 1999, a move which the president resisted by dissolving parliament and declaring a state of emergency.

Turabi has been in an out of jail and house arrest ever since after splitting ranks with Bashir over accusations ranging from staging a coup attempt to standing behind the rebellion that broke out in Darfur.

Abdel-Salam said that the PCP delegation led by political secretary Kamal Omer warned Badie about the complexity of the quarrel between the two sides and the difficulty of mending fences.

However the Muslim Brotherhood chief informed the PCP officials that he is fully aware about all the related details and expressed optimism about the prospects of succeeding in his reconciliation efforts.

Badie affirmed his keenness to seek settlements among the different parties in Sudan saying it is part of the duties of the Islamic movement in pursuing convergence between Muslims while preserving the unity of Sudan.

There have been numerous attempts by Islamists around the world to bring end the long standing dispute between Bashir and Turabi but their efforts met little success.

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