Sudan’s Bashir sets out his vision for Africa through a council of African political parties

by Keffyalew Gebremedhin – The Ethiopia Observatory

Sudan’s al Beshir

This Monday, August 5, 2013, Government Spokesperson Redwan Hussein, vice-president of the newly formed Council of African Political Parties (CAPP), signed at the African Union (AU) a memorandum of understanding on behalf of the Ethiopian ruling party – not that there is any difference between the party and government in that country.
It is not clear what this memorandum and CAPP is all about. Everyone seems to have his/her own ideas and they say about it whatever comes to their mind. It was established in Khartoum on 13 May 2013 and is reported to have 35 members.
On the lighter side, CAPP is better defined, as duplicator of whatever the AU does – since it neither has any clear vision nor a mission, in its gentler sense. This can be seen from last June statement by AU delegation leader Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Tumusiime Rhoda, who was on a mission to the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) in Khartoum to secure funding for Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC).
She spoke at the conference, attended by ministers, where she praised her hosts for their brainchild, the CAPP, as the only thing she could possibly lavish on her hosts. To the best of my efforts, this also happens to be the only AU official paper, her statement, that mentions CAPP this far, as sign of the seriousness it has been held in the Union. Not even AU press release mentions Redwan Hussein’s visit to the last Monday to sign the memorandum of understanding.
Anyways, we cannot blame Ms Rhoda for what she said, since she cannot create personality or mission to a pet project designed to keep an ICC indictee in the limelight. Nevertheless, under Khartoum’s hot weather she flatteringly says in assigning tasks to CAPP:

“The audience accorded to us by Dr. Nafi of the Office of the President [Sudan's] was instructive in forging the ideal of African Renaissance and Pan Africanism in the spirit that Sudan hosted the 35 African political parties in Khartoum that established a Council of African Political Parties to fast-track Africa’s political and economic integration, as the continent marks 50 years since the founding of the Organization of African Unity, predecessor to the African Union.”

What has so far been understood about CAPP is that it is an initiative of the Sudan’s ruling party, the National Congress Party (NCP). CAPP is also headquartered in Khartoum. Its objective seems to be broad enough to fit everyone’s intentions. Given the isolation the Sudanese president has been suffering, as an ICC indictee, he may have wanted cheerleaders and reason to travel from place to place, possibly before his 100 day stay in power expires by September, after which the opposition vowed to overthrow him.
On the part of the African Union, when explaining the purpose of the partnership of African political parties – for which there is no official Assembly decision formalizing its existence, Dr. Aisha L. Abdullahi, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, at the signing with Redwan Hussein of the memorandum observed:
“We intend to promote good governance and democracy in Africa … Most importantly, the partnership will help in strengthening African political parties.”
She did not elaborate how this could come about. But her remark left me with no surprise about the lack of progress in democratic rule, good governance and Africa’s respect for fundamental human rights of its citizens.
Elsewhere the AU official is quoted stating CAPP’s purpose as being strengthening the unity of African political parties to work toward good governance, ensuring respect for fundamental human rights.
Of course, Ethiopia’s assumption of the rotating chairmanship of the AU must have helped in selling CAPP on behalf of Mr. Bashir to other Africans, given that the TPLF owes the Sudanese regime a huge debt of gratitude for its decades long persistent efforts at hurting Ethiopia’s sovereignty.
After signing the memorandum, Redwan was curt rather than brief in saying, “This agreement will help us in furthering our core objectives” – whatever those may be – and without any elaboration.
In April, an NCP spindoctor and its senior member Ibrahim Ghandour told VOA that the purpose of this body is to “bring Africans together … whether ruling parties or opposition parties, have got members in the grassroots as well as they are the leaders of their societies. So, bringing African political parties together will fast-track Africa’s economic, social, and political integration.”
On the other hand, in Zambia President of CAPP Winter Kabimba last May underlined the importance of the council as Africa’s protector “against infiltration from imperialists looting our natural resources.” In elaborating what he meant by this, Kabimba said:

“The major threat against the Council is infiltration from outside forces that want to work against the AU; they want to work against the African brotherhood so that they can continue to keep us apart as they continue looting our resources. They want to set terms for us so that they deal with us on individual basis.”

Wonders never end in our Africa. He either did not explain how CAPP guard Africa against ‘imperialist infiltration.’
The unanswered question however is who protects Africans, when the political space in a given country is not enough for ruling parties and members and supporters of opposition parties are persecuted. We hear now from Mr. Winter Kabimba that the purpose of CAPP is to bring Africans together. Only in June, President Bashir released from prison some of his opponents who had been rotting in prison for a long time, only to send twice as more opposition politicians to prison within weeks after their release.
During the last five days, the ruling party in Ethiopia has massacred several youths, arrested in the thousands opposition and suspected members; here they go they sign an agreement to silence opposition and cripple all civil society organizations across Africa.
In the AU and within some governments, there are some that see some role for CAPP in election monitoring. This could bring no improvement in stolen election in Africa. In a country, where a million voters have been disenfranchised in Zimbabwe, the AU has endorsed it free and fair. When it comes to CAPP, how could a ruling party and a government that harasses and destroy its opposition parties, has blood in its hands become an agent of democratic change to empower the people?
Truth be told, the day African political parties establish mechanism for election monitoring, as they do their jog now, they may only foster the alliance and solidarity of heavy-handed dictators anything would go for them to undermine the rising popular will in the continent.
What a new folly for Africans. They are being asked to expect peace, progress and democracy from the political alliance of known human rights violators, people whose hands have been soaked by the blood of innocent people.
It comes to me just in the image of a peace conference of cats aiming to improve the plight of mice!