A question and answer about the "Broad Islamic Current" bloc in Sudan

Khartoum

- In a rare precedent, 10 Islamic organizations and currents in Sudan announced the union under the name "Broad Islamic Current" to include Islamic entities, including Salafism, and set a set of goals that they said they seek to achieve, including maintaining national sovereignty and imposing the values ​​of religion on all aspects of life and reforming affairs. political.

This step comes in light of a political blockage and severe tension prevailing in the Sudanese arena since decisions taken by the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, on October 25, under the banner of reform and expanding the base of participation, before he admitted, in his statements during this April, that he had failed to achieve any breakthrough. With the worsening economic conditions and deteriorating security conditions.

Observers believe that the unity of the Islamic currents, which was announced the day before yesterday, Monday, opens the door wide to the return of the Sudanese Islamic movement to political practice after its exclusion from the scene on April 11, 2019, when army generals overthrew the government of President Omar al-Bashir under pressure and prolonged popular protests, and the releases also strengthened. About prominent leaders in the previous regime from the hypothesis of the identification of the military leadership with the Islamists who were at the head of the isolated government, especially that the leaders of change were senior officials of the security committee closely related to Bashir and the symbols of his rule.

What are the founding entities and currents of the broad Islamic alliance?

He signed the charter establishing the newest coalition on the Sudanese political map;

The "Reform Now Movement" is headed by Ghazi Salah El-Din Al-Atabani, one of Al-Bashir's most prominent advisors before he split from the National Congress Party in 2013, forming a separate organization calling for reform and accountability and rejecting the repression practiced by the authorities against peaceful protesters at the time.

At the time, the fledgling movement raised slogans calling for the building of an inclusive popular movement for the people of Sudan.

The broad Islamic movement also included the Sudanese Islamic Movement, which was represented by the well-known leader in the former regime, Amin Hassan Omar, who held several executive and leadership positions in the isolated government. Armed movements, but the Islamic movement remained dominant on the scene with many interfaces.

Also among the signatories is the Just Peace Platform, a group founded by the late Al-Tayyib Mustafa, who was known to support the secession of southern Sudan. He is also related to Al-Bashir and is considered one of the leaders of the Islamic organization.

The fledgling alliance also included the State of Law and Development Party, which is one of the modern organizations and is led by the cleric Muhammad Ali al-Jazouli, who is the closest to the hard-line Salafist movement, to the extent that it declared its support for the Islamic State at an earlier time.

Among the signatories are the Muslim Brotherhood;

The global organization led by Adel Ali Allah, and the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood group led by Awad Allah Hassan, two groups each with its own leadership and separate vision. The National Justice Alliance headed by Al-Tijani Al-Sisi joined this movement, along with the Ennahda Movement under the leadership of Muhammad Majzoub and the Unity of the Class Initiative, a movement of Islamists who chose to stand On the neutral side when the Islamic movement split in 1999.

What are the reasons for signing the alliance charter?

The spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan, Hassan Abdel Hamid, says that the broad Islamic bloc was necessary to confront the internal rupture, which calls for the unification of all the divided parties, including the parties of the Union and the Ummah and others.

Abdul Hamid does not care about the impact of the move on the international and regional environments, saying that the Islamic movement has the right to gather and gather and address its bases, stressing that they have a specific vision for dealing with the outside world, and the nascent movement has plans to deal with the internal situation and the national crisis, adding, "We are not against anyone and we will not accept that Any party imposes its opinion on us, and the international community must respect the choices of the Sudanese and Islamists in particular."

On the other hand, Amin Hassan Omar confirms that they are participating in the signing to absolve themselves of responsibility for the crime of the division that engulfed the movement - in reference to the 1999 joint - with a new cohesion.

He added, "The aim of the declaration is to coordinate positions between Islamic currents towards the first goal, which is the country's renaissance in religion, and to stand in the face of a coordinated campaign against the Islamic movement."

"Our goal is the unity of the organization, where people are included in order to form an effective movement," he added.

In its preamble, the charter criticized the forces of freedom and change and said that their priorities during the past three years started from a cultural project that clashed with the principles of the nation and that they had tampered with laws and educational curricula in a way that threatened social security. In the last three years.

Is the Islamic current a cover for the military and a hidden ally to pass their agenda?

The leader of the Freedom and Change Alliance, Noureddine Salah El-Din, believes that the establishment of the broad Islamic movement represents a development in the level of the relationship between the military authority and the Islamic movement from mutual flirtation to close association, and in light of the failure in the administration of the state and in achieving the allegations and justifications of the "coup" and its inability to find legitimacy. Legal, political backing and popular acceptance, the revolutionary authority, as Noureddine says, finds no other alternative before it except to return to its incubator, and it is the Islamic movement that distanced the revolution between them.

The leader indicates to Al Jazeera Net that, on the other hand, the Islamic movement finds in front of it an irreplaceable opportunity to return to the political scene again and with the impetus provided by the coup by returning its employees to the state apparatus and lifting the ban on its economic institutions.

And according to what he says, this contradictory alliance joins the “revolutionaries” alliance, and if there is a good deed, it gathers them all into one basket to facilitate dealing in the ongoing battle between what he called Salah al-Din and the forces of darkness and totalitarianism and the forces that believe and work for the civil and democratic state.

On the other hand, the Muslim Brotherhood spokesman asserts that the Islamic movement does not have any links with the military;

But they - he says - support the option of free elections and the establishment of a civil state. He also stresses that Islamists cannot be excluded from the political scene, as the forces of freedom and change tried to do, stressing their determination to contribute to solving the political crisis as they are the most capable of reaching solutions.

Interim alliance or merger?

The establishment of the broad Islamic movement clearly indicates the features of the next stage regarding the future of political Islamists in Sudan during the transitional period and the elections stage, according to journalist and political analyst Talal Ismail to Al Jazeera Net, and he points out that more than half of the factions affiliated with the broad Islamic movement represent the Islamic movement led by its leader. The late Hassan al-Turabi, despite the absence of the People’s Congress from signing it, before the split occurred on the fourth of Ramadan 1999, and this clarifies - he says - the vision of merging these organizations into unified structures during the next stage.

Ismail points out that the presence of other Islamic currents in the organization, such as the National Law, Development and Justice Party and the Muslim Brotherhood, clarifies the vision of moving to the stage of political alliances and the beginning of their formation, expecting the joining of other parties or factions before the elections.

"It is clear that there are steps during these two phases, the first is organizational integration and the second is building the base of alliances," he added.

However, the spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood stresses that the current step does not go beyond coordination, especially since all these entities still maintain their apparatus and leadership, but they are moving towards integration and a single entity.

Why the People's Congress boycotted the Broad Islamic Alliance?

The People’s Congress, which is labeled the largest Islamic force in Sudan, has abandoned the broad trend as a throwback from the party line that is now working to gather the people of Sudan in a round table in search of a comprehensive solution to the crisis leading to elections. Therefore, it cannot withdraw and withdraw within a specific ideological current, according to the party’s media official. Awad is a Palestinian, who asserts that his party is not currently linked to any alliances or blocs and operates as a movement of an integrated society for everyone, and it is illogical for him to return after 30 years of inception to close down in a particular organization.

What is the impact of the new alliance on the developments of the political scene in Sudan?

The unity of Islamic currents has clear effects on the political scene by rebalancing it, says Professor of Political Science at Al-Neelain University Musab Muhammad Ali, which necessitates other political forces also to enter into alliances, strengthen them and review experience.

But the unity of Islamic currents is not sufficient from his point of view without reviewing and evaluating previous experience and leaving a greater opportunity for youth to benefit from the mistakes of the past and to accompany the changes after the December revolution.

And he continues, "The implications of this unit can be read in the context of preparing for the elections and perhaps entering into the transitional political process through any upcoming settlement or consensus." Muhammad Ali also rules out that the step was made under a deal with the military component, but it came due to the changing scene and the exacerbation of political power struggles regarding Among them, it is expected that the coming period will witness a great political competition between the alliances that are now forming.