November 14, 2024 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudan’s dissolved National Congress Party (NCP) elected Ahmed Harun, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), as its leader on Thursday. The party’s leadership bureau immediately rejected the move, raising the spectre of a split. The election took place during a secret meeting of the NCP’s Shura Council, the party’s highest decision-making body. Haroun, an ICC fugitive on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, replaces acting party leader Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamed. The NCP leadership bureau denounced the council’s decision as illegitimate, arguing the meeting violated party rules and was orchestrated by those seeking to weaken the party further. “Those who conspired against the party, the state, and the Sudanese people in 2019, imprisoning party leaders, seizing assets, and sowing division, are now pushing for this split,” the bureau said in a statement. Sudan Tribune learned that over 80% of Shura Council members attended the clandestine gathering, where they received a recorded message from ousted president Omer al-Bashir, the NCP’s former leader. The leadership bureau criticized the timing of the meeting, noting that many members are currently fighting alongside the Sudanese army against the Rapid Support Forces. A planned meeting last …

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