Former NCP head: ‘State of Emergency has complicated crisis in Sudan’

The former Secretary-General of the Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP), El Shafee Ahmed, says that the declaration of the State of Emergency and the Emergency Orders issued in terms thereof “has complicated the crisis without contributing to its resolution”.

In a voice recording from Khartoum on Tuesday, he expressed concern that the armed forces will lose respect and sanctity and risk their reputation because of recent developments.

He said that President Al Bashir’s call to the military to confront the current situation would “show it as an adversary and would make it confront the people”.

El Shafee warned that it would have dire consequences and would make the fate of Sudan worse than the countries Al Bashir has continued to refer to in his speeches.

He called on Al Bashir to step down through transitional arrangements involving all the parties to ensure the stability of the country.

El Shafee directed his speech to the president saying: “The Sudanese people no longer want you to be in power, as 30 years of rule are enough.”

‘A bubble of rotten soap’

The Sudanese Professionals Association and other signatories to the Declaration of Freedom and Change described the State of Emergency as “a bubble of rotten soap”.

In a joint statement on Tuesday, the forces considered these measures similar to the Courts of Inspection, recalling the courts established before the ousting of President Jaafar Nimeiri in 1985 as a result of nationwide protests.

The statement stressed that giving the Attorney-General and the Chief Justice the authority to issue rules governing investigation and inspection procedures and the establishment of emergency courts is a flagrant violation of the principle of separation of powers.

“The judiciary and the courts will also be deprived of their original authority to enforce the law independently of the executive.”

Law enforcement

They called on lawyers and law enforcement agencies to deal with these actions and expose them as they represent a new crime and violation of the constitution by the regime and its head.

The statement added that the entry of buildings, the inspection of persons, the seizure of funds, granting the public prosecutor the authority to lift immunities and giving the head of the judiciary the right to establish emergency courts, is completely incompatible with the principles of natural justice and the rule of law and a miserable attempt to inculcate the judiciary in its crimes and violations after the failure of its forces and militias in dissuading the masses of our people from their goals.

The statement stressed that the issuance of the four emergency orders violates the Bill of Rights in the Constitution and lack the constitutional and legal legitimacy in its entirety, specifically the prohibition of gathering and assembly, peaceful marches, strike, the formation of special courts and the arrest of persons and the criminalisation of publication and access to information.