Sudan president promises freer, more inclusive government

Facing increased scrutiny at home and a war crimes indictment abroad, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir stood before his National Assembly on Tuesday and promised a freer, more inclusive government.

Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court in connection with massacres in Darfur, spoke just days after attending ceremonies marking South Sudan’s independence from his own Khartoum-based government. Sudan is entering a “second republic” comprising mainly Muslim Arabs, and people will be able to vote on a new constitution crafted with widespread participation, he said.

“The government will include everyone, from the opposition parties to ordinary citizens, in drafting the permanent constitution. I urge all religious leaders and university professors to take part,” Bashir said, along with “everyone who is concerned with the future of the north.”

Bashir, whose government has jailed critics, also promised greater freedom of speech.

“No one from today will be arrested for expressing his political views,” Bashir said. “I ordered the National Intelligence and Security Service to review the ongoing interrogations with detainees, and if it is proved that they did not do anything, did not harm the country or were involved in armed groups, they will be released.”

Mwangi S. Kimenyi, a Sudan expert and director of the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution, said Bashir’s remarks were “probably 70% rhetoric” designed to shore up his power and obviate any yearnings for an “Arab Spring”-style uprising. With the partition, Kimenyi said, people in north Sudan no longer have a common enemy to rally against, which means Bashir could become a lightning rod for dissent and face mounting internal divisions.

“I would not think Bashir could be fully transformed from a tyrant to a democratic leader in this short time,” Kimenyi said. “Bashir is not in a very strong position after the loss of the south. He could be seen as weak. He’s seen what has happened in other parts of the Arab world and would like to forestall those events. He’s trying to position himself as a different leader now.”

South Sudan, which is mostly Christian and animist, officially declared its independence from the north on Saturday after generations of civil war that claimed more than 2 million lives. A 2005 peace deal paved the way for a January referendum in which an overwhelming majority of south Sudanese voted to secede.

Bashir acceded to the partition, but myriad disputes between the north and south remain unresolved. They include the status of the Abyei border region, which both sides claim, and how to divide oil revenue.

The south has most of the oil, and in his remarks Tuesday, Bashir announced a three-year “emergency” budget to address the expected losses of oil revenue. He said there would be a reduction in public spending, a push for new foreign and domestic investment, and an increase in exports.

He said the central bank would release new currency in coming days. South Sudan has announced that it will soon launch its own.

Sara Pantuliano, a Sudan expert and researcher at the Overseas Development Institute, saw Bashir’s portrayal of Sudan as a more fully Islamic nation as an attempt to put a positive spin on a partition that has left many northerners unhappy.

“People really feel they’ve lost a part of Sudan,” she said. “It’s like a piece taken from their body. There’s a sense of sadness.”

christopher.goffard@latimes.com

Goffard reported from Nairobi and special correspondent Ahmed from Khartoum.