Sudan's Bashir Grants Sweeping Amnesty to
Rebels
Wednesday, June 21, 2000
By Alfred Taban
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir,
seeking to end his country's 17-year-old civil war, has granted a
general amnesty to anyone who committed an act of rebellion since
Bashir seized power in 1989.
The official Sudanese news agency SUNA reported on Wednesday that
Bashir had decreed an "unconditional general amnesty" to any
Sudanese, civilian or military, who committed an act of rebellion
between June 30, 1989, and June 20, 2000.
The amnesty covers anyone who carried out "an illegal act or
refused to do a legal act pertinent to rebellion, mutiny, sedition,
instigation of war against the government and attempt to violate the
constitution, whether this act was made in or outside Sudan," SUNA
quoted the decree as saying.
Despite describing the amnesty as unconditional, the decree,
issued on Tuesday, said that anyone wanting to benefit from it
"shall return to Sudan willingly, declare his commitment to the
constitution and laws, and abandon violence," the agency said.
Those stipulations may deter many potential beneficiaries since
opponents of Bashir's Islamist-led government strongly object to the
constitution that came into force last year.
The main southern rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army
(SPLA), could not immediately be reached for comment.
The SPLA has been fighting for autonomy for the mainly Christian
or animist south from the Muslim, Arabized north since 1983 in a
civil war said to have cost up to two million lives.
FOES UNIMPRESSED
In Cairo, Essam Mirghani, deputy commander of a northern
opposition group named the Sudan Alliance Forces, dismissed the
amnesty as a smokescreen aimed at propping up Bashir's own position
rather than a serious bid to solve Sudan's conflict.
"Since 1989 he has kept giving an amnesty to everyone and
cease-fires every month, so there is no change," Mirghani told
Reuters. "There are serious issues to be addressed before asking
people to come back to Sudan."
Mirghani said Bashir wanted to mend fences with opposition
leaders to strengthen his hand in an internal feud with his former
ally, Islamist ideologue Hassan al-Turabi.
"We believe the...government is not really serious about
achieving a peaceful settlement to the Sudanese question," he said.
"Bashir is trying to evade prosecution in the future for toppling a
democratic regime."
He said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), to which the
Sudan Alliance Forces belong, would keep up its armed struggle.
But Hassan Ahmed al-Hassan, spokesman for the Umma Party led by
Sadeq al-Mahdi, who was ousted as prime minister in Bashir's
military coup, welcomed news of the amnesty.
"This is a good step toward the comprehensive peace. We need more
steps like this to pave the way for reconciliation between the
government and the other political forces," he said.
The Umma Party quit the NDA earlier this year, saying it had
failed to respond adequately to an Egyptian-Libyan peace drive aimed
at reconciling the government with its northern opponents. Some Umma
leaders, though not Mahdi, have returned to Khartoum.
UNPRECEDENTED SCOPE
Bashir has often pardoned political opponents but has never
issued such a comprehensive amnesty as this one, which follows
mounting calls for greater democracy and commitment to human rights
from student groups and others in recent months.
Sudan is also pressing for the lifting of U.N. sanctions imposed
in 1996 for its alleged role in sheltering three Muslim militants
wanted for an attempt to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in
the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on June 26, 1995.
The Organization of African Unity (OAU) urged the Security
Council on Tuesday to rescind the sanctions that require all states
to reduce the number of Sudanese diplomats on their territory and
restrict the movement of Sudanese officials.
Sudan, backed by Arab and non-aligned nations, called this month
for an end to the sanctions, saying it had made "sincere and
pragmatic efforts to comply" with the demands upon it.
