Turabi calls emergency National Congress Party meeting

Turabi, who denounced what he called "an assault on the people's constitution" and said "Sudan is now led by an autocratic regime", called on Sunday for an emergency meeting of the consultative council of the National Congress Party for 27 December. It would have the party "examine the exclusion of Bashir and his supporters if mediation has failed to make the head of state go back on his decision to dissolve parliament", Agence France Press (AFP) reported. Turabi said parliament had also decided to challenge Bashir's emergency declaration in the constitutional court. He said he would not initiate any violent confrontation, but warned of the possibility of "unrest in the streets of Khartoum" and said the role of the reconciliation committee was "to avert an escalation in the political crisis so that it does not deteriorate into demonstrations and strikes", AFP added.