February 21, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – Nafie Ali Nafie, the vice-chairman of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP), has emphatically denied reports on plans by some Islamists to re-establish the currently dormant Islamic Movement (IM) as an independent political party.

FILE - NCP vice-chairman Nafie Ali Nafie

In a press conference held in Khartoum on Tuesday, Nafie was asked by reporters on the veracity of press reports that some Islamist figures were planning to re-register the IM as a political party.

“No, this is not true”, he tersely replied. Nafie added that if these rumours are based on the recent reform memo submitted by a group of Islamists, he has already met members of this group and they are not contemplating such move.

“This is a group which gave us advises and is talking from within. They share the same ideas and program of the NCP but they are only seeking better performance” Nafie said.

The IM was dissolved few years after Sudan’s Islamists took power in a military coup in 1989. It comprised a wide spectrum of Islamists including those who supported the coup and those who did not.

Following the 1999 schism in the NCP between supporters of the ousted NIF leader Hassan Al-Turabi and fellow Islamists who sided with President Al-Bashir, the IM was revived but it remained largely dormant, confining its activities to issuing statements on national occasions.

The IM’s secretary-general is Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha.

In January this year, news of a mysterious reform memo drafted by dissatisfied members of the NCP and the IM leaked to the media. The memo, reportedly signed by 1,000 individuals, underscored the urgency of addressing widespread corruption, establishing a citizenship-based state and banning the combination of party positions with constitutional positions.

Media reports in Khartoum spoke over the last two days about a number of Islamists intending to re-register the IM as a political party. As of Saturday, 18 February, nearly 2,000 members of the IM began receiving text messages informing them that the old group is about to re-emerge.

“The Islamic Movement is pleased to invite you to attend its first foundational conference which will empower the youth and those praying in the dark to dispel years of submissiveness and disappointment” part of the text message seen by Sudan Tribune read.

A source close to Islamists told Sudan Tribune that the group intending to re-register the IM is seeking by this step to activate its membership following the political changes that resulted from the breakup of the country with South Sudan’s secession in July.

The source revealed that their group had already begun the procedures to register the IM with the registrar of political parties.

He indicated that some NCP officials had sent messages urging them not to rush registration while some IM members opine that there is no need for registering it as a political party but there is a need to re-activate the existing structures.

(ST)