SCP vows to continue public speeches against govt.

Leading members of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP) announced on Wednesday that they will continue their public speeches, “shaking the Khartoum regime’s corners until it is overthrown”.

The SCP responded to the public flogging of the party’s political secretary and two other senior members in front of the Omdurman Criminal Court on Monday morning, immediately after having been convicted of disturbing the public order. They were held during a public rally at the Libya market on 28 April in which they severely criticised the policies of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

The National Umma Party, headed by El Sadig El Mahdi, Dr Hassan El Turabi’s Popular Congress Party, the Reform Now Movement, led by NCP dissident Ghazi Salaheldin El Atabani, and the National Baath Party have all condemned the sentence.  

“The public flogging was aimed at humiliating the opposition forces, and weakening their vigour. At the same time, it again shows the regime’s tyranny and arrogance,” the National Baath Party said in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the party, “this incident constitutes a turning point for the opposition, as it added a strong motive to exert all our efforts to enhance the struggle to leave this nightmare behind us, and rebuild Sudan on democratic principles”.