Hassan al-Turabi Islamist Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi (AFP) Full Name: Hassan ’Abd Allah al-Turabi Current Position: Leader of Popular Congress Party (PCP). Date of Birth: 1932 Born: Kassala, Kassala State, Sudan. Education: University of Khartoum; Law MA, University of London; PhD, Sorbonne, France. Career: Sudanese Foreign Minister, 1989; Speaker of Sudan National Assembly, 1996-1999. Political Affiliations: Muslim Brotherhood; Islamic Charter Front (ICF); National Islamic Front; National Congress Party, 1996-1999; Popular Congress Party (PCP) 1999-Present. ============= chief Sudanese architect of the Brotherhood has been Hasan Abdallah Dafa’allah al Turabi Turabi invited Osama bin Laden and several hundred of his Afghan fighters, who arrived in 1991. Excerpt: The chief Sudanese architect of the Brotherhood has been Hasan Abdallah Dafa’allah al Turabi, respected cleric who was the founder of the National Islamic Front (NIF). It is important to bear in mind that the Brotherhood was outlawed in most of the Islamic world after the 1950s, with the notable exception of Saudi Arabia, which gave shelter and support to many Ikhwan leaders. Sudan was the first time members of the Brotherhood held formal political power in a state. Among the pioneering moves of al Turabi and the NIF after taking power in 1989 was the acceptance of Islamic banking structures. The NIF was an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood but sought a broader base for the popular mobilization of a political agenda of the Islamization of Sudanese society. It received substantial funding from Islamic banks—Faisal Bank, Tadamon, Dal al Mal al Islami (DMI) Investment Corporation and the Kuwaitizakat fund, and through its members gained control of the currency exchange market.[7] Al Turabi made no effort to hide either the NIF’s association with the Muslim Brotherhood or the NIF’s internationalist aims, as shown in the following two statements from 1987: I admit we are a threat to the present world order…We just seek to correct the world order. We just seek to express our Islamic values.[8] Our aim is to utilize fully the rich heritage of the Ikhwan (Brotherhood) in such areas as organization, documentation, education, the high spiritual and moral standards, specialization and international relations, and streamline it with the growth in numbers and size of the movement which has now absorbed hundreds of thousands of people.[9] The Arrival of Osama bin Laden in Sudan It was into this milieu that Turabi invited Osama bin Laden and several hundred of his Afghan fighters, who arrived in 1991. At the time, the NIF government had instituted a policy of allowing any Muslim into the country without a visa. Bin Laden was initially suspicious enough of al-Turabi’s offer of sanctuary to send a scouting party to Khartoum to make sure the offer was genuine. When he felt he would be secure in Sudan, bin Laden moved there with up to 1,000 of his Arab-Afghan veterans and their families. To cement the relationship, bin Laden took al-Turabi’s niece as his third wife after the move.[10] Bin Laden’s business investments, as well as his ties to the NIF and the Sudanese military establishment, have been amply documented, and will not be repeated at length here. These include bin Laden’s ownership of businesses, the approximately 30 training camps and farms, the construction of important roads, and his investment of $50 million in the al Shamal Bank.[11] Due to the direct intervention of president Omar al-Bashir, (who is still in power today), bin Laden’s companies and financial enterprises were allowed to import goods without inspection or the payment of taxes.[12] What is less analyzed is the general context into which bin Laden and the nascent al Qaeda movement were introduced. Following the triumph of the NIF revolution in June 1989, led by Bashir, the leadership of the international Muslim Brotherhood met in London and decided to transform Sudan into a base and safe haven for Islamist movements in the Arab world, Africa and Asia…in which Sudan would become a springboard to Arab and African countries in return for significant financial assistance. Toward this end an International Muslim Brotherhood leadership board of 19 members was established in Khartoum. [13] Under the leadership of al-Turabi, Sudan hosted the first Popular Arab and Islamic Congress (PAIC) on April 25-28, 1991, a conclave of 300 Sudanese and 200 delegates from 45 states. Like the great haubs (sandstorms) that periodically engulf Khartoum, Islamists, mullahs and terrorists from the Muslim world made their way to the capital of the Sudan and the office of Hasan al-Turabi.[14] One of al-Turabi’s passions was the creation of a pan-Islamist movement/state that was not bound by national borders or internal theological splits, consistent with the thinking of the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, as outlined in the seminal 1983 Muslim Brotherhood paper titled The Project.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 02:50:25 +0000
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