Ali Karti has been elected as the president of the Broad Islamic Current, a coalition of Islamist Movements in Sudan, the coalition announced in a statement on Monday.
According to a coalition statement, Ali Karti, a former foreign minister and secretary-general of the powerful Islamic Movement, accepted the role and promised to carry out an ambitious agenda.After longtime President Omer al-Bashir was overthrown in 2019, he has not been in the public eye, though authorities did want him during the transition.
The coalition acknowledged that the election was held in Sudan, but it did not say where or how it was held.The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are accused by the coalition’s spokesperson, Hassan Abdel Hamid, of trying to “swallow the Sudanese state,” and the coalition’s position in the current conflict is to support the army against them.He went on, “We reject the recommendations of the Coordination of Democratic Civilian Forces ‘Tagadum,’ and we oppose external interventions.”The coalition’s Presidential Council met periodically to discuss various matters, including “the developments in the country and the repercussions of the war launched by the rebel Rapid Support Forces militias and their foreign mercenaries, and their supporters from internal political forces and countries conspiring against our country and people,” as per a press statement released by the Current yesterday.The U.N. presence in Sudan and the framework agreement are opposed by the Broad Islamic Current, which was established following the military coup in 2021.
It includes a variety of Islamist organizations, the Popular Congress Party being conspicuously absent.
The Islamic Movement and the Just Peace Forum are the two main organizations that make up the Islamic Current.two Muslim Brotherhood factions, the Reform Now Movement, and the State of Law and Development Party, headed by preacher Mohamed Ali al-Jazouli—who has been held captive by the Rapid Support Forces since the beginning of the conflict—are all involved.Along with the Renaissance Current led by Mohamed Majzoub and the Unity of the Ranks Initiative, an Islamic current that opted to remain neutral following the Islamic Movement’s split in 1999, the National Justice Alliance, led by Al-Tijani Al-Sisi, also joined this coalition.
Despite his glaring absence, Karti’s election represents a reassertion of the Islamist bloc amid the ongoing war. In a statement that mirrored the military’s position, the coalition attacked the RSF and its purported foreign sponsors.Since the conflict began in April 2023, Sudan has been severely affected, with many people being displaced and a humanitarian crisis developing. The involvement of the Broad Islamic Current highlights the nation’s turbulent political environment and the ongoing influence of Islamist factions.
