Sudan Vision Daily News Paper Official Website - Editorial ,Al Mahdi Lashes out at AU

In an interview with Al Sahafa daily Newspaper on Saturday March 14, leader of the opposition Umma Party, Sadiq Al Mahdi lashed out at the African Union, questioning its impartiality.

The outspoken Al Mahdi said, "All movement is constrained because the government is one to its members." Such a statement by a former statesman invites mockery. AU has addressed the Darfur crisis as an organization concerned with the affairs of member-states, irrespective of the government in power. Moreover, Al Mahdi has mixed up the membership of the incumbent government and that of Sudan as an African country. For the information of Al Mahdi, AU is the umbrella of African nations, regardless of the governments in power. Governments go, but nations remain. To our knowledge, AU has been conducting its mission with full impartiality. To question that impartiality amounts to giving a carte blanche to rebels to go ahead with their intransigence. We know that Al Mahdi party has some strongholds in Darfur. But twisting facts in the favour of these strongholds puts Al Mahdi in an unenviable situation as an alleged national leader. "Most of the troops of AU in Darfur have come from Francophone states that suffer corruption and poverty," Al Mahdi told the paper. The Western-educated leader seemed to be associating Francphonianism with poverty and corruption. Or else how are we to understand his singling out Francophone countries? The other moral fall was the comparison Al Mahdi struck between AU and NATO forces. It seems Al Mahdi is furious at the interaction of NATO forces, hence driving against the mainstream trend. Al Mahdi should understand that leadership is no longer the domain of those who have descended from certain families. A major quality of leadership is to feel the impulse of the masses.