Leader of the largest Sudanese opposition Umma party, Sadeq al-Mahdi said Monday that his party will not join the government of President Omar Bashir unless a democratic climate is brought about in the country, reported the MBC radio.
Mahdi has reportedly announced earlier that he decided to join the government, which will be formed in the coming two days, according to the Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA).
The party's secretary general, Omar Al-Dayem, told KUNA that the party's politburo approved by majority vote of members the principle of participation in the new government.
He said the decision was stipulated by the IGAD initiative and after wide scale consultations with party leaders.
Mahdi and Bashir held a meeting last Thursday and was attended also by Libyan leader Muammar Kadhafi.
The Umma Party joined other opposition forces in boycotting the Sudanese presidential and parliamentary elections in December, which Bashir won.
Mahdi, whose government was overthrown by Bashir in 1989, did not consider the elections legitimate.
Umma was asking that the elections be postponed until a comprehensive political solution to the Sudanese civil war was reached, and that the money spent on the elections be used to treat medical patients and develop services, according to reports prior to the elections
Mahdi returned to Sudan in November after four years in exile - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
