Sudan Disbands Former Ruling Party

Former Sudanese president and member of the National Congress Party, Omar al-Bashir, sits with Secretary of State Robert Zoellick in 2005. Bashir’s former party has just been terminated. (Wikimedia Commons).

Sudan’s transitional government passed a law terminating the National Congress Party, Sudan’s former ruling party, and repealed a public order law restricting women’s behavior on November 28. Sudanese state television claimed the laws would “dismantle” the former regime of President Omar al-Bashir, who was deposed in April

While the transitional government has not yet implemented the new law, according to Sudanese Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdelbari, it permits the transitional government to seize all National Congress Party assets, including its offices. The new law also officially removes the National Congress Party from the registry of political parties in Sudan. The transitional government had already frozen the National Congress Party’s assets after ousting Bashir.

The National Congress Party began in 1992 and was Sudan’s ruling party until a coup d’etat forced Bashir out of office earlier this year. The public order law, which governed women, was part of the organization’s strict interpretation of Islamic law. The former party condemned its legal repeal, releasing a statement claiming that “with its reckless decisions, [the Forces for Freedom and Change coalition] wants to return [Sudan] to the malicious, vicious cycle that has held back the country for the past 63 years.” The party also claimed that it was “continuing to complete the reform and change we have initiated.”

However, many activists praised the party’s dissolution, with the Sudanese Professionals Association calling it “an important step on the path to building a democratic civilian state.” Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok tweeted that the decision to abolish the National Congress Party came out of a desire to enact justice and peace in Sudan, rather than revenge. Many of the party’s former leading figures, including Bashir, are currently incarcerated on charges of corruption, murdering protesters, and staging the country’s 1989 coup that brought Bashir to power.

Both the dismantling of the National Congress Party and the repeal of the public order law elicited excitement from some supporters of the new government in Khartoum. Many Sudanese women celebrated the repeal of the public order law, which subjected women to flogging for leaving their hair uncovered in public or wearing pants. One women’s rights activist, Hadia Hasaballah, claimed “the decision to abolish the public order law is a culmination of the struggles of courageous women for 30 years. Women martyrs deserve it.”