Turabi party sees "rare opportunity" to end war

The political secretariat of the Popular National Congress (PNC) party has called on the government and other opposition parties to implement the recently agreed Egyptian-Libyan peace proposal, news agencies reported. The PNC, led by the radical Islamist scholar and former Speaker of the National Assembly, Hasan al-Turabi, was quoted by AFP as saying in a statement that the peace plan offered "an historic and rare opportunity" to end Sudan's 18-year civil war.

The Egyptian-Libyan memorandum provided "the most acceptable and respected way out of the political, economic, security and social crises that surround the Sudan and threaten its existence, security and future," according to the Turabi party. The PNC was not invited by either the Egyptian or the Libyan government to take part in the recent Cairo peace meetings, and its statement warned against the exclusion of "any organisation, be it of a heavy or light weight", AFP reported.

Turabi split from the ruling National Congress party of President Omar al-Bashir to establish the PNC in June 2000, after Bashir dissolved the National Assembly and removed him as Speaker in December 1999, following a power struggle between the two. Turabi was arrested in February 2001, and remains in detention pending trial on treason charges, after signing an agreement with the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). That Memorandum of Understanding, signed in Switzerland on 19 February, said Sudan was "on the verge of collapse under the regime's totalitarian and high-handed approach", and recommended that "peaceful popular resistance must be stepped up".