http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/darfur/2008/05/16/attack-on-khartoum-the-ramifications-for-sudan/ Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:41:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/darfur/2008/05/16/attack-on-khartoum-the-ramifications-for-sudan/#comment-1702 M Gizouli Sun, 18 May 2008 21:55:16 +0000 http://www.ssrc.org/blogs/darfur/?p=490#comment-1702 The ramification noted above are making themselves evident already. GoS is launching a media campaign centered around a line that divides the nation in two, "either you are with us or you are against us", identical to the Bush post Sep 11 doctrine. Already Sadig al Mahdi has bent down to the pressure and is offering a full fledged deal with the regime, supposedly through his sons in the security forces. The right questions about the attack have yet to be asked in Khartoum's press community, I mean motives of the attack and political consequences. Of course strict censorship and confiscation make this exercise impossible. On the other hand, what is the future of the American Sudanese negotiations on normalisation of relationships, officially announced in Rome last month? What response does the international community offer to the ramifications noted above, and for us inside, what are the alternatives to the existing regime. Another tune is the direction of developments between the two camps of the Islamic Movement. Turabi was set free hours after his detention and rumours are in the air that a deal is in the kitchen. Moreover the army does not seem particularly happy about the handling of the Omdurman attack. Editor in Chief of the army paper (al Guwaat al Musallaha) wrote a critical column on the event asking questions that were censored in the press: why was the army not fully involved, and why was the operation led by Salah Gosh and Co. In the meantime Khartoum speaks of numerous detentions in army ranks, and the Defence Minister actually confirmed the latter indirectly by speaking in parliament of a fifth column (inside the army). Knowing Sudan's political history a coup is in the air. The ramification noted above are making themselves evident already. GoS is launching a media campaign centered around a line that divides the nation in two, “either you are with us or you are against us”, identical to the Bush post Sep 11 doctrine.
Already Sadig al Mahdi has bent down to the pressure and is offering a full fledged deal with the regime, supposedly through his sons in the security forces.
The right questions about the attack have yet to be asked in Khartoum’s press community, I mean motives of the attack and political consequences. Of course strict censorship and confiscation make this exercise impossible.
On the other hand, what is the future of the American Sudanese negotiations on normalisation of relationships, officially announced in Rome last month? What response does the international community offer to the ramifications noted above, and for us inside, what are the alternatives to the existing regime.
Another tune is the direction of developments between the two camps of the Islamic Movement. Turabi was set free hours after his detention and rumours are in the air that a deal is in the kitchen. Moreover the army does not seem particularly happy about the handling of the Omdurman attack. Editor in Chief of the army paper (al Guwaat al Musallaha) wrote a critical column on the event asking questions that were censored in the press: why was the army not fully involved, and why was the operation led by Salah Gosh and Co. In the meantime Khartoum speaks of numerous detentions in army ranks, and the Defence Minister actually confirmed the latter indirectly by speaking in parliament of a fifth column (inside the army). Knowing Sudan’s political history a coup is in the air.

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