Opposition slams Sudan constitution talks

A child waits to be evacuated after being injured in Thursday's bombing

March 8, 1998
Web posted at: 1:25 p.m. EST (1825 GMT)

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- A Sudanese opposition leader has dismissed efforts by Khartoum's Islamist government to enact a new constitution as a cynical quest for democratic credentials.

"We reject the new tactic as nothing more than a face lift for the regime to give it another life span," Sadeq al-Mahdi, leader of the Umma Party and part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), told a news conference Saturday night.

The NDA, including southern and northern rebel groups, is fighting Khartoum in a war which, combined with famine, has cost an estimated 1.3 million lives since it resumed in 1983.

Mahdi said the constitution-making exercise by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government and its talk of allowing political parties were desperate moves by a government paralyzed by military, political, diplomatic and economic failure.

A man's feet were amputated after he was injured in the government bombing

The national assembly -- which is dominated the National Islamic Front -- is due to begin a debate Monday on the constitution, which the government has promised to submit to a popular referendum.

Bashir, who took power in a 1989 military coup and abolished the existing multiparty system, named a 377-member commission in October to prepare a new constitution.

"We won't accept any such constitution drafted by such a process," said Mahdi, describing it as a farce. "The whole process, unless frozen to allow genuine political discussion, will have no legality or legitimacy."

Violence in Sudan 2 min. 24 sec. VXtreme video

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Military repression and current legislation deprived Sudanese citizens of basic rights and freedoms, he added.

No date has been set for the referendum or for peace talks expected to take place in April between the government and its foes, led by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the main rebel force in the mainly Christian and animist south.

Bombing caused death and suffering

At least 11 people were killed and about 50 wounded when a government plane bombed a hospital at Yei in SPLA-held territory on Thursday.

Eiffe points to the air-raid bunker outside the hospital that was bombed Thursday

A government Antonov aircraft dropped several bombs, of which five hit the hospital directly, destroying the operating theater and an evacuation bunker in the hospital grounds, said Dan Eiffe, a liaison officer with the aid agency Norwegian People's Aid.

"One bomb hit the theater, blew the theater apart, blowing the roof off and the doors off. One landed in front of the outpatients on a bunker and killed seven people. We had to dig them out," Eiffe said.

The 100-bed Yei hospital, which is run by NPA, has been treating rebel soldiers and civilians as well as government prisoners of war.

The SPLA captured Yei from government forces last March as part of its long campaign for self-determination for south Sudan.

Correspondent Catherine Bond and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Heavy fighting erupts over key Sudanese airport - January 31, 1998
• Sudan clears way for talks to end civil war - July 9, 1997

Related sites:

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• Sudanese National Democratic Alliance
• ArabNet - Sudan
• Sudan page - University of Pennsylvania, Dept. of African Studies

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

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