Parties, Personalities and Positions in the 2000 Elections

The presidential candidates reported by the Sudanese media up to 13 December are as follows: 1. Lt-Gen Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, the incumbent president. 2. Dr Malik Husayn, a political newcomer. 3. Mahmud Ahmad Juha, another political newcomer, standing as an 'independent' candidate. 4. Al-Samaw'il Husayn Uthman Mansur, a political newcomer, standing as the candidate of the Independent Democrats. 5. Field Marshal (Retd) Ja'far Muhammad Numayri, the president of Sudan from 1969 until 1985, now standing as candidate of the Alliance of the Working People's Forces. The main personalities favouring the present regime in Sudan are: Ghazi Salah al-Din al-Atabani, a veteran member of the NIF, appointed as minister of state in the president's office in 1991. He was originally a supporter of Turabi, but turned against him in 1999. Currently a member of the ruling party, the NC's, leadership council. Lt-Gen Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir, the incumbent president and chairman of the NC, was an army paratroop brigadier when he seized power in 1989. He joined the NIF while still at school and was the organisation's third most senior member in the army at the time of his coup. Mustafa Uthman Isma'il, a veteran NIF member, who has been external affairs minister since 1998. Maj-Gen Bakri Hasan Salih, a veteran NIF member who became head of the general security organisation of Bashir's administration in 1989 and subsequently, in 1995, interior minister. Another former supporter of Turabi, he is now defence minister. Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, the incumbent first vice-president, was an NIF politburo member in 1986 and leader of the opposition in parliament. He became deputy secretary-general of the NIF in 1988. In 1989 he was appointed as presidential adviser on political affairs, rising to first vice-president in 1998. Prof Ibrahim Ahmad Umar, an NIF MP in 1986, was appointed as a presidential adviser by Bashir in 1996 and as NC secretary-general, replacing Turabi, in June 2000. Maj-Gen Al-Fatih Muhammad Urwah was an NIF member and colonel in Numayri's security organisation in 1985. He was appointed as a presidential adviser by Bashir in 1989, and in 1998 as Sudan's ambassador to the UN in New York. The most prominent personalities opposing the governing regime are: Yasin Umar al-Imam was vice-chairman of the NIF in 1987. Appointed a member of the NC leadership council, he broke away in 1999 to join Turabi's PNC in July 2000. Colonel John Garang de Mabior, who has been leader of the SPLM/A since 1984, favours a solution to the civil war through the establishment of a secular government to rule over a united Sudan. Al-Sadiq al-Siddiq Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi is a veteran politician who first became prime minister in 1966 when he was already chairman of the UP and leader of the Ansar religious sect. His party won the 1986 elections following the ousting of Numayri, and Mahdi again became prime minister, a post he retained until he was himself ousted by Bashir in 1989. He spent the next seven years in and out of detention until he fled, in 1996, to Eritrea, where he joined the NDA. Commander Salva Kiir Mayardit joined the SPLA while a major in the Anyanya II rebel movement and was appointed deputy chief of staff for operations and security of the SPLA in 1986. He became deputy chairman of the SPLM/A political-military high command in 1997. Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani has been the leader of the DUP and the Khatmiyyah religious sect since the 80s. He went into exile following the 1989 coup and became the chairman of the NDA in 1995, a post he still holds. Ali al-Hajj Muhammad, who was already a prominent member of the NIF in 1986, has held ministerial posts both under Mahdi and Bashir. He was deputy secretary-general of the NC in June 2000, when he split off and joined Turabi's PNC. Hasan Abdullah al-Turabi is a veteran politician who rose to the rank of attorney-general under Numayri in 1979. After being dismissed as a presidential adviser in 1985, he became the secretary-general of the NIF, subsequently serving as justice minister in Mahdi's government. He briefly held the post of deputy prime minister in 1989 until his replacement during the same year. At first detained following the 1989 Bashir coup, he subsequently claimed that the NIF had been the architect of the coup. Following the 1996 elections, Turabi was elected Speaker of parliament, a post he held until his split with Bashir in 1999. He is currently the leader of the breakaway PNC. The main opposition groupings, which are boycotting the elections, are: Democratic Unionist Party (exiled wing): Chairman Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani. National Democratic Alliance (NDA): an opposition umbrella grouping embracing the UP (before its withdrawal), DUP, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the Sudanese Communist Party and other movements opposed to the government: Chairman Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani. Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, the main rebel grouping: Chairman and Commander-in-Chief Colonel John Garang de Mabior; Secretary-General James Wani Igga. The registered political groupings include the following: Alliance of the People's Working Forces: Chairman Ja'far Muhammad Numayri; acting secretary-general Kamal al-Din Muhammad Abdallah. Alliance of the Popular Masses: Founder Faysal Muhammad Husayn. Arab Socialist Nasirist Party: Spokesman Taha Mirghani Ahmad. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) (internal wing): Chairman Al-Sharif Zayn al-Abidin al-Hindi (who was deputy prime minister in 1986 and returned from exile in 1997). Free Sudan National Party: Chairman Father Philip Abbas Ghabbush (who was a central committee member of former President Ja'far Muhammad Numayri's Sudan Socialist Union in 1978). Independent Democrats: Leader Al-Samaw'il Husayn Uthman Mansur. Islamic-Christian Solidarity: Founder Hatim Abdallah al-Zaki Husayn. Islamic Party of the Nation: Chairman Wali al-Din al-Hadi al-Mahdi (who split off from the mainstream Ummah Party in 1985). Islamic Revival Movement: Founder Siddiq al-Hajj al-Siddiq. Islamic Socialist Party: Chairman Mirghani al-Nasri (a former chairman of the Bar Association). Muslim Brotherhood: Leader Dr Habir Nur al-Din. National Congress (NC), incumbent ruling party, successor to the National Islamic Front (NIF): Chairman Lt-Gen Umar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir; Secretary-General Prof Ahmad Ibrahim Umar. Nile Valley Conference, a party formed specifically to seek Sudan's integration with Egypt: Founder Lt-Gen (Retd) Umar Zarruq. Nile Valley Unity Party: Secretary-General Faruq Hilal. Popular National Congress (PNC), a breakaway faction of the National Congress: Founder Hasan Abdallah al-Turabi. Socialist Popular Party: Founder Khalifah Idris Habbani. Sudan Green Party: Founder Prof Zakariya Bashir Imam. Sudanese Central Movement: Founder Dr Muhammad Abu al-Qasim Hajj Hamad. Ummah Party (UP) (internal wing): Chairman Umar Muhammad Nur al-Da'im (who returned from exile in June 2000). United Democratic Democratic Front, a pro-government southern party: Chairman Maj-Gen Elijah Hon Top [For the significance, outcome and likely political consequences of these elections, see "IRIN Special Report on Presidential and parliamentary elections 2000" of 13 December]