Sudan: Ruling Party Calls Bin Laden a ‘Holy Fighter’

2 May 2011

Khartoum — The West should withdraw its forces from Afghanistan after the United States announced that it has killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, an official in the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Sudan said today.

Bin Laden was shot in the head by U.S. forces who stormed his luxury compound in Pakistan after a decade-long manhunt during which he continually evaded capture.

“Twenty nations from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) gathered to kill the Afghan people in the context of an unfair campaign by the West ….in its search for bin Laden or capture him as a leader for terrorism,” the parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Tahir was quoted by state media.

“If they are so thrilled with his death then they should lift their hands off Afghanistan and let Afghans run their own affairs,” Al-Tahir added.

The speaker of the NCP dominated national assembly described Bin Laden as a Mujahid (holy fighter) during the parliamentary session and was interrupted by MP’s who chanted “Martyr, Martyr”.

He described the U.S. war on terror as “genocide against Muslims”.

Bin Laden lived in Sudan for five years, arriving in 1991 after falling out with Saudi Arabia’s ruling family over the kingdom’s participation in the U.S.-led campaign to end Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait.

He left in 1996 after the government of Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir faced pressure by the US and Saudi Arabia to expel him. Bin Laden himself is reportedly bitter at Khartoum saying that they have borrowed $300 million from him but declined to pay it back as he was leaving.

There was no official comment from the Sudanese government on the news of Bin Laden’s demise. Sudan is walking a fine line on the issue as it seeks to be lifted from the U.S. list of countries that sponsor terrorism as early as July.

Washington says that Khartoum must meet all criteria spelled out in U.S. law including not supporting international terrorism for the preceding six months and providing assurance it will not support such acts in the future

But the Islamist based government in Sudan may not want to welcome Bin Laden’s death and alienate its base which largely sympathizes with the late Al-Qaeda leader even if it does not agree with some of the actions he has taken including the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers.

Sudan and the U.S. has maintained close counterterrorism cooperation over the last decade including the targeting Al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia.

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