 Islamist leader Hassan Turabi has launched his fiercest attack to date against Sudan's new interim constitution, due to be signed on Saturday under a north-south peace deal. Turabi, who was President Omar Bashir's one-time mentor and only freed last week after 15 months in detention over an alleged coup plot, said it was drafted undemocratically. The interim constitution was written by a committee "that was not representative of the Sudanese people," Turabi told a crowd of some 5,000 people late Wednesday in his first public rally since being freed.
| "For instance, I wasn't there..." |
"Constitutions around the world are drafted by legislative organs rather than committees," he said.
| I think he's got that bass-ackwards, but I could be wrong... |
Turabi had celebrated his first day of freedom on June 30 by criticising the new charter that sets quotas for political representation, when "this should be left to the people to determine," and by attacking the government's record on civil liberties. But Sudanese officials and MPs hailed the charter, unanimously passed by parliament on Wednesday, as an important and historic document. Even if the text had been drafted by the current legislature, said Turabi, it would still be undemocratic because its members "were either appointed or came through uncontested elections."
| "And nobody invited me. They didn't even send a card..." |
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