PCP wants Sudan security apparatus to be dissolved

The Popular Congress Party (PCP) joined calls to dissolve the National Intelligence and Security Services and transfer its powers to the police during a press conference in Khartoum on Monday.

Dr Ali El Haj, the secretary-general of the Popular Congress Party which is part of the government led by the ruling National Congress Party until the ouster of former president Omar Al Bashir, held a press conference yesterday to call for the dissolving of the Nationale Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).

The resignation of the director of the NISS, Salah Abdallah ‘Gosh’, on Saturday was not enough according to El Haj. “It is necessary to transfer the functions of the apparatus to the police.”

The PCP, as part of Al Bashir’s government, refused to quit it despite calls from the party’s youth who joined the protests in the early beginning in December.

El Haj said that the transitional period, now set at two years by the military transitional council, should not exceed one year. “We disagree with the military junta on the transitional period [of two years, RD].

“We demand that the maximum period be one year, especially as [Western, RD] countries say that what happened in Sudan is a military coup.”

He also called for the formation of a supervisory body because the military council now possesses all the powers.

Previously, in March, the PCP member called on the government of Sudan to immediately repeal of the Emergency Laws, the release of all those sentenced under the State of Emergency, abolish the Emergency Courts, and to allow peaceful demonstration without restrictions.

In addition, El Haj said that Sudan should apply for membership of the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court (ICC). “Our presence in the global judiciary is an important issue to ensure that there will be no recurrence of the atrocities and violations of human rights as happened during the era of Al Bashir.”

During the weekend it became clear that Al Bashir, who is currently under arrest ‘in a safe place’, and who has been indicted by the ICC on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, that the military transitional council in Sudan will not hand him over to the ICC but will try the former president in a Sudanese court.