KHARTOUM (Reuters) – A Sudanese court reversed an order dissolving a key Islamist institution that was prominent before the uprising in 2019, a further step towards the rehabilitation of allies of the former regime.
According to a document seen by Reuters, a high court on Tuesday reversed a decision dissolving Islamic Call Organization, an organizing and financing arm for the regime that has helped to finance Islamist groups including Hamas, members of the taskforce told Reuters last year.
Since a coup in October, the Islamists who had been removed from power have been gradually returning to the civil service, while seizures of bank accounts and other assets of Islamists have been reversed.
Analysts say it is part of an attempt by the military to build a political base after the parties it had been sharing power with prior to the coup rejected negotiation.
Omar al-Bashir was ousted after three decades in power by a group of his top generals, who later entered into a power-sharing government with the civilian groups that had led months of protests in 2019.
That arrangement ended on Oct. 25 when the same military leaders staged a coup, plunging the country into economic and political turmoil.
The taskforce that had been working to roll back the Bashir regime has come under scrutiny, with key leaders jailed until earlier this week, and several of its decisions reversed.
A court order had previously reactivated the Holy Quran Association, another key organizing tool. Others have reinstated scores of bureaucrats to the civil service.
In a statement, visiting Western envoys expressed concern at the return of elements of the Bashir regime, as well as the deterioration of the economy.
“They underscored that international financial support for the Sudanese government, including debt relief, could only follow establishment of a credible civilian government,” they said.
(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Patrick Werr and Nick Macfie)
