What a Coincidence!

Rashid Abdelrahim
“Beautiful is the coincidence, lovely are the circumstances…
I cannot describe everything that has happened…
What happened cannot be expressed in words or captured in song.
By God, since the day you departed, I have neither seen your beautiful face again nor known affection as I did before.”
Have Khalid Sillik, Faki Minka and Jaafar Safarat ever heard this song and recognised its lyrics?
It is a song by the late, great artist Mahmoud Abdelaziz, affectionately known as Al-Hout (The Whale).
The President of the National Congress Party, Mr Ahmed Haroun, quoted the song during his appearance on Rabie Siraj’s podcast.
Mr Ahmed Haroun’s interview came in response to the slogan adopted by Somoud, the offshoot of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC): “Everyone but the National Congress Party”. The interview was intended to send a message to them and to others: “We are here. We are not moved by your wishes, your illusions or your false slogans.”
The interview was also intended to remind everyone that we emerge at critical turning points. When our country needed to be defended with arms, we offered our young people. Today, as the nation prepares to shape its future, we are presenting our new leadership.
The podcast interview was no coincidence. It came at a time when the National Congress Party was preparing to re-enter the arena of political engagement, having made the necessary preparations, completed the organisation of its structures and formulated its vision. This was evident in the answers given by the party’s Acting President, who carefully distinguished between the party’s collective positions, using expressions such as “our vision” and “we in the party”, and his own personal views.
Haroun’s interview signals a new and well-organised opening for his party, following the completion of its organisational structures. This is taking place against the backdrop of major internal developments, as the Armed Forces have begun taking steps to bring the war to a decisive conclusion and prepare to extend their operations to drive the militia out of Darfur.
The state’s emerging new phase is also reflected in steps toward dialogue and the formation of a committee to prepare for it.
Externally, the contours of a new phase have begun to emerge following the defeat of US President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.
The implications of the American election results for Sudan include the departure of Trump’s adviser, Massad Boulos, and the end of his tiresome demands, which he repeated whenever he spoke about Sudan, particularly his insistence on a 90-day truce.
The next phase of American involvement will significantly affect external support for the rebellion.
Mr Ahmed Haroun’s public appearance was not a personal decision. Rather, it was a decision arising from the party’s plans for the beginning of a new phase, in which it intends to address and settle the questions being raised about the changes that have taken place within the party and the role of the Security Committee.
The interview was a party decision through which the National Congress Party signalled the direction its future relations with President al-Burhan, the government, and external actors are likely to take.
The interview presented the National Congress Party’s president and demonstrated his capabilities. Through his words, he sought to underline the party’s strong bond with the Sudanese people and the nation’s heritage and values, touching on everything from relations between men and women to Sudanese music, with a reference to an artist with strong connections to young people.
By invoking a song, the National Congress Party president was making the point that the party draws its inspiration from this nation, its soil and its values, and that it is not an ideologically isolated organisation detached from its people.
The four-hour podcast interview, during which the party leader remained composed and showed no signs of restlessness, attracted considerable attention. It exposed the weakness of the discourse of Somoud and others, who had monopolised public platforms from the days of the Forces of Freedom and Change until they departed from the country. Despite foreign platforms supporting them, they have been unable to present a clear, well-defined political discourse or vision comparable to the one Mr Ahmed Haroun put forward.
In effect, his message to them was simple: you should fall silent and “be reduced to less than the strap of Kulaib’s sandal”.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=19980