South African Communist Party calls for release of Sudan #39;s opposition leaders

December 9, 2014 (JOHANNESBURG) – The South African Communist Party (SACP), which is a member of the ruling coalition government in Pretoria, has called for the release of two Sudanese opponents after the signing of a declaration with rebel groups.

“The SACP calls on the Sudanese authorities to release political prisoners and all the people who have wrongfully been arrested; to discard repression; and to all whom it may concern to work earnestly for unity, peace and the development of democracy in Sudan,” said a statement released by party’s national spokesperson Alex Mashilo on Tuesday.

The head of the National Consensus Forces (NCF) Farouk Abu Issa and Amin Makki Madani the president of the Sudan Human Rights Monitor (SHRM) have been arrested on 6 December after their return from Addis Ababa where they signed the Sudan Call with the Sudanese Revolutionary Front and the opposition National Umma Party (NUP).

The South African communists further called on the Sudanese government to allow “the sick and the elderly access to healthcare, this as an immediate step in lifting repressive measures”.

The two leaders are over 80 years old and suffer from several illnesses including high blood pressure and a heart condition and need permanent medical attention.

The statement further regretted that this arrest comes against the signing of the ‘Sudan Call’ which is described “as an important step towards unity, peace and democracy”.

The arrests came at the time when the democratic mass movement in Sudan represented by a wide range of organisations signed the

The SACP warned that violence and repression led to divide the Sudan into two countries, adding “this did not prove to be the most sustainable solution as the conflict never stopped within the North” between it and the South Sudan and “a new conflict broke out that new state”.

(ST)