Vol 51 No 7 | 
            - SUDAN
- ANALYSIS
	     There are also politicians who dream of returning to power  even in coalition with the NCP  especially Umma leader El Sadig el Mahdi  the Premier the NIF overthrew  and Mohamed Osman el Mirghani  head of the DUP  who has lately been closer to the regime than has El Sadig...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     This looks like a DUP attempt to upstage the rival that always defeats it  El Sadig el Mahdi’s Umma Party...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     In the Umma  El Sadig el Mahdi’s juggling ability is clearly undiminished and he has continued to talk to the regime at the same time as he calls for opposition unity and backs Southern calls for independence...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	      The APPC was held on 26-30 September but many delegates  including Umma leader El Sadig el Mahdi  spent much longer in Juba  belatedly trying to build bridges and stop the South from seceding...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     His Popular Congress Party is one of three parties in a still unnamed group  the other being the Umma Party of El Sadig el Mahdi  whom the NIF deposed as elected Premier in 1989...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Mohamed Osman el Mirghani's Democratic Unionist Party had joined in and only Premier El Sadig el Mahdi was  as ever  hesitant...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     Nhial was a confidant of the late SPLM Chairman John Garang de Mabior as Minister of SPLA Affairs (Defence) and is the son of one of Garang's heroes  the leading politician William Deng Nhial  who was assassinated by the troops of El Sadig el Mahdi's government in May 1968...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     The main Northern opposition parties: Umma Party chief El Sadig el Mahdi (whom the NC overthrew in 1989) had supported the ICC but then opined that charging the head of state would 'harm the constitutional situation and the order in the country'...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     As the Justice and Equality Movement attack on the capital ended  Umma Party head El Sadig el Sideeg el Mahdi looked annoyed on television that JEM had upstaged his planned pact with the NC; the deal was done on 20 May and El Sadig has defended it ever since to a sceptical population...
	 
    
    
    
    
        
	
	     The US's controversial rapprochement with the NC regime has been postponed 'indefinitely'  apparently at Khartoum's request  but on 20 May it signed a pact with El Sadig el Mahdi's Umma Party...