Sudan's Bashir orders release of all political prisoners
By Khalid Abdelaziz
KHARTOUM | Mon Apr 1, 2013 4:07pm EDT
(Reuters) - Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday ordered the
release of all political prisoners, a move cautiously welcomed by the
opposition in the tightly-controlled African country.
The announcement comes after Sudan and South Sudan agreed in March to end
hostilities and resume cross-border oil flows after coming close to war a
year ago. Khartoum had accused its southern neighbor of supporting rebels
trying to topple Bashir.
"I announce today my decision to release all political prisoners," Bashir
told parliament. "I also renew a commitment to create a climate to hold a
national dialogue with the other political forces."
Bashir, in power since 1989, did not say when and how many prisoners would
be released.
Rights groups have accused the government of holding an unspecified number
of dissidents since the security services cracked down hard on small
protests against austerity measures unveiled by Bashir last year.
In February, a U.N. human rights expert said Sudan was holding opposition
figures and other detainees without trial and denying them urgent medical
care.
Sudan's weak and fractured opposition tried to bring "Arab Spring" protests
to Khartoum, but failed to mobilize mass support.
Kamal Omar, spokesman for the National Consensus Forces grouping of the main
opposition parties, said Bashir's comments were a step in the right
direction, but said more was needed.
"This is a positive move but it needs to be accompanied by action on the
ground," Omar said. "We need a climate that will allow political dialogue,
freedom of expression and press freedom."
Bashir's comments come after Vice President Ali Osman Taha last week invited
rebel groups to help prepare a new constitution following the secession of
the south in July 2011.
Khartoum has accused Juba of backing rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement-North (SPLM-North) which took up arms in two border states around
the time of South Sudan's independence.
After the split, the two fell out over the position of their border, the
status of disputed land, the division of national debt and how much the
landlocked South should pay to export its oil through Sudan, and other
issues.
Rebels of the SPLM-North sided with the south during the civil war with
Khartoum that led up to South Sudan's independence. But they were left
inside Sudan after the partition.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Ulf Laessing in Cairo; Editing by
Jon Hemming)
