Articles

Date:  Wed, 3 Jan 2001

Zeinab Osman Al-Hussain
The Ramadan Martyrs' National Committee
 

Nine years ago on April 23, 1990, a group of soldiers, non-commissioned officers, and officers of the Sudanese Armed Forces completed a daring operation to seize political power. The agenda of the Ramadan Movement were largely popular. The Movement aimed to restore the democratic life to the country with a constitutional charter based on the recognition of all fundamental freedoms, independent judiciary, and the rule of law. This action would have insured the independence of the
trades unions movement and organizations and the non-partisan nature and administration of the Sudanese State. It would have guaranteed the commitment of Sudan to a foreign policy that emphasizes Sudan's sisterly relations with all neighbors instead of the adventurous terrorist policies of the NIF coup.

Supportive of liberation movements, anti-zionism, and anti-apartheid, the April 1990 leadership aimed to allow full freedom to political parties, unions, and voluntary associations, freedom of the press and publication, the release of all political prisoners, and reinstating of all employees and workers the Inqaz unlawfully dismissed. On security issues, the Ramadan Movement came to put to trial all those who shared in the Inqaz coup that destroyed the democratic government, and the corrupted ones aswell before the independent judiciary. The Movement aimed to demobilize all militias by law, those of the NIF terrorist groups.

The Ramadan Rectification Movement laid out for the People of Sudan a full political program Sudan still needs. The NDA adopted the Ramadan Program in the NDA Comprehensive Resolutions to put an end to the NIF rule.

The Martyrs' Family League with the whole Nation commends the NDA for this important work. During these difficult years the Sudanese at Home and all over the word, as known and expected of them, supported the Ramadan Movement that did not live to achieve its agenda. The unlawful, savage, and extra-judicial killings that 200 regulars unfairly met by the order of the NIF Shura Council and its military executive branch, the June coup leaders, are still strongly condemned. Justice must be done. The wrong doers, those who participated in the arrest, unfair trial, and brutal killing of the martyrs must be brought to judicial proceedings. The Martyrs' Family League will never forgive the killers or their assistants. Justice must prevail.

Early in 1992, the Sudanese political organizations and community groups joined hand in hand with the wise guidance of the Sudan's Martyr Fathi Ahmed Ali, the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces the NDA Vice President, to form the Ramadan Martyrs' National Committee. The Committee is still active. So many Sudanese individuals and groups
participated actively with generous financial contributions to make of the Committee a continuous national entity.

The DUP Home at Cairo and the Arab Lawyers Union's Headquarters in Garden City, Cairo, were made a permanent platform that hosted the Committee public activities to this very day. It is our League's high honor to greet the moral and spiritual support we constantly received from the Sudan's Martyr, General Fathi Ahmed Ali the Leader of the Legitimate Command of the Sudanese Armed Forces. We greet with great appreciation His Excellency Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani, NDA President and the DUP Leader, and Ustaz Farouq Abu Eissa, the Secretary General of the Arab Lawyers Union for their responsible stands with the League and the Committee.

The Martyrs' Family League wishes to express utmost gratitude to all the Sudanese human rights groups, especially the SHRO-Cairo Board of Trust and Executive Office. The League is grateful to all the other non-Sudanese friendly sisters and brothers who cordially supported the Committee, especially the Egyptian journalists Amina Al-Nagash of Al-Ahali, Mohamed
Ismat of the Al-Wafd, and Dr. Marlyn Tadrus and Amir Salim the leaders of the Human Rights and Legal Research Center in Cairo.

There are hundreds of names for one to remember at this point. The Sudanese individuals who supported the Committee almost on a daily basis included the late Horiya Hakim, the well-celebrated media expert and a prominent leader of the SHRO-Cairo human rights group. The USAP women's leader Abok Agaw and Asonta Maryo, the merciful member of the Saint Bakhita Association in Egypt, and Aza Al-Tigani, the active member of the Sudanese Women's Forum (Egypt). The Committee was equally supported by the distinguished women leaders Sulayma Yousif (Sudanese Women's Union), Souad Abdel-Aziz (Sudanese Alliance Forces), Fatima Habbani (Umma Party), Souad Ibrahim Ahmed and Najat Abdel-Salam (Democratic Unionist Party), and the journalist Saadiya Abdel-Rahim.

The prominent Sudanese Women's Movement has largely founded and supported the Committee. The students' leaders Muzamil Faza', Hamid Da'ak, Makki Hassan, Faqiri Hamad, Osman Fawzi, Nasir Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, and Majhdi Abdel-Monim Hassan Medani, Adil Al-Wasilya of the Sudanese Youth Union, Shaikh Al-Hussain (DUP), Issam Al-Jack (SHRO-Cairo), and many other activists of the Students' and Youth Movement made a relentless effort. That became a vibrant tributary of the Committee activities.

The Sudanese Union in Egypt, led by Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Ghani played a significant role in the Martyrs' National Committee. Zain Al-Abdeen Al-Tayeb Osman, Ali Al-Awad, and lawyer Abdel-Rahman Al-Zain of the Sudnanese Victims of Torture Group participated with endless efforts to make of the Committee a permanent success.

The journalists were Ibrahim Abdel-Qayoum and Mohamed Hassan Daoud of Al-Ittihadi Al-Dawliya, the SAFs writer Ibrahim Ali Ibrahim and Mohamed Al-Mustafa of the Khartoum journal, Mohamed Mohamed Khair, and Al-Samani Hussain. The artists included singers Saif Al-Jami'a and Muzamil Zaki, the musician Yusif Elmousli, Hadai Musical Band led by musicians Kahlida Al-Ginaid and Ahmed Abd-Allah, and Rahal the caricaturist contributed with artistic works that made of the Committee a refined Sudanese community.

The Committee memorable celebrations included the Martyrs' Shaw that included the marvelous works of artists Mohamed Sa'eed and Al-Baqir Musa. The Shigara Poetry of Azhari Al-Haj was theatrically performed. The director was Adil Abdel-Latif and the actresses and actors included the Martyrs' children Abdel-Gadir Al-Kadaro and Ahmed Mohamed Osman Karar. The martyrs' relatives and friends, Gada Abdel-Aziz Khalid, Rasha Mahgoub, Ahmed Mohamed Al-Mamoun, Sayda Abdel-Aziz Khalid, and Angie Mahgoub actively contributed to the Shaw.

The political leaders who founded the Martyrs' National Committee and served as active members included Brigadier Abdel-Aziz Khalid, leader of the Sudanese Alliance Forces (SAFs), Brigadier Abdel-Rahman Khugali the representative of the Sudanese Armed Forces Legitimate Command, and Colonel Kamal Ismail (SAFs). Al-Tigani Al-Tayeb leader of the Sudanese Communist Party, the USAP leader Abedon Agaw, the SPLM leaders Suliman Adam Bakhit and Nyang Lol, Salah Galal of the Umma Party, Shamsaldeen Al-Sanoasi of the Sudanese National Party, and the DUP representative Ahmed Ali Al-Sanjak.

The late Mohamed Haj Al-Amin, the Sudanese Workers' Federation distinguished leader, representative of workers at the NDA Leadership Council, and Member of the DUP Central Committee was a force behind the Committee's workaday activities. We salute his memory in solemnity.

The late Martyr Colonel Abdel-Aziz Al-Nour, the SAFs distinguished leader, contributed with a special service to the National Committee with his enthusiastic speech, consistent ideas, and sincere struggles in support of the Committee. His personal involvement and close friendship with the Ramadan Movement leadership was a dear source in all our celebrations.

The members of the Martyrs' Family League in Egypt deserve a special greeting. Their time and energies, their tears and pain, their will power and determination to keep the memories of the Ramadan Martyrs' alive will live forever. They raise together with the Martyrs' League in Sudan, the United Kingdom, and the United States the irreconcilable demands:

The graves of the martyrs must be publicly identified. Their wills must be delivered to their family members. Their names and ranks must be honored in the Sudanese Armed Forces. Their killers and those who acted with them must be put to the fair and just trail for the deserved punishment.

The Ramadan Martyrs' National Committee, the Martyrs' Family League, the founders of whom many are now working in the League Branch of the United Kingdom, the widows and orphans of the noble martyrs in Sudan and the United States, and their relatives and supporters every where, any time, will stay on alert generation after generation until these national demands are completely fulfilled.
 

A final note:  Since its inauguration in 1992, Dr. Mahgoub El-Tigani, the SHRO-Cairo President, Jara Osman Al-Hussain of the Martyrs' Family League, and the writer of this documentary periodically acted as Chairpersons of the Ramadan Martyrs' National Committee.