News Article by AFP posted on June 21, 2000 at 07:33:08: EST (-5 GMT)
Northern opposition party welcomes Sudan amnesty
CAIRO, June 21 (AFP) - Sudan's main northern opposition party,
the
Umma, on Wednesday welcomed as a "positive step" the general
amnesty for
dissidents which was declared by Sudanese President Omar
al-Beshir.
"We believe it is a positive step, because any decision in the
direction
of efforts for a peaceful global settlement is welcome,"
said Umma spokesman
Ahmed al-Hassan, who is based in Cairo.
Beshir decreed a general unconditional amnesty to all government
opponents
inside and outside Sudan, along with the release of all
political prisoners
and detainees, the official SUNA news agency
announced earlier in Khartoum.
The pardon benefits every Sudanese, military or civilian, who
has
committed any illegal act or has illegally refrained from
discharging a duty
during the period between June 30, 1989 and the
date of this decree, SUNA
said.
"This decision largely helps create a propitious atmosphere for
a
diplomatic settlement and demonstrates good intentions," Hassan
told AFP when
contacted by telephone in Cairo.
"The decree is all the more important because it comes at a time
when the
Sudanese regime is seeking a comprehensive political
settlement and has
undertaken measures in this direction," Hassan
said.
He nonetheless called on the Islamist government in Khartoum
to
"accelerate the adoption of additional measures the
opposition
considers necessary to achieve a comprehensive peaceful dialogue.
"It is necessary to cancel all the laws putting restrictions on
democracy
and freedom, such as the emergency laws, and of course,
revoke press
censorship," the Umma spokesman said.
The Umma party, led by former prime minister Sadeq al-Madhi, has
in the
last few months distanced itself from the opposition umbrella
group, National
Democratic Alliance (NDA), by starting a dialogue
with the government.
In 1995, the Umma and other northern opposition groups took up
arms
against the government under the NDA umbrella. Khartoum has
been waging a war
with southern rebels since 1983.
Hundreds of armed Umma militiamen are still estimated to be
based in
Ethiopia and Eritrea. Mahdi's son Abdelrahman al-Mahdi,
commander of army, is
belived to live between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
None of them have returned to Khartoum since the rapprochement
began in
the last few months. But the Ethiopian authorities have in
the last few days
asked the militiamen to leave.
Rejecting the amnesty was the main southern rebel group, the
Sudan
People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which is also a member of the
NDA.
"We reject General Beshir's decision, because we believe it is
he who
needs to be pardoned and because we want a true democracy and
complete
peace," an SPLA spokesman said from Asmara.