Source:

Sudan.net: Major Sudanese Political Parties: Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) [ID 12400]

"The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was similarly based on a religious order, the Khatmiyyah organization. Ever since the Khatmiyyah opposed the Mahdist movement in the 1880s, it has been a rival of the Ansar. Although the Khatmiyyah was more broadly based than the Ansar, it was generally less effective politically. Historically, the DUP and its predecessors were plagued by factionalism, stemming largely from the differing perspectives of secular-minded professionals in the party and the more traditional religious values of their Khatmiyyah supporters. The DUP leader and hereditary Khatmiyyah spiritual guide since 1968, Muhammad Uthman al Mirghani, tried to keep these tensions in check by avoiding firm stances on controversial political issues. In particular, he refrained from public criticism of Nimeiri's September Laws so as not to alienate Khatmiyyah followers who approved of implementing the sharia. In the 1986 parliamentary elections, the DUP won the second largest number of seats and agreed to participate in Sadiq al Mahdi's coalition government. Like Sadiq al Mahdi, Mirghani felt uneasy about abrogating the sharia, as demanded by the SPLM, and supported the idea that the September Laws could be revised to expunge the "un- Islamic" content added by Nimeiri.

By late 1988, however, other DUP leaders had persuaded Mirghani that the Islamic law issue was the main obstacle to a peaceful resolution of the civil war. Mirghani himself became convinced that the war posed a more serious danger to Sudan than did any compromise over the sharia. It was this attitude that prompted him to meet with Garang in Ethiopia where he negotiated a cease-fire agreement based on a commitment to abolish the September Laws. During the next six months leading up to the June 1989 coup, Mirghani worked to build support for the agreement, and in the process emerged as the most important Muslim religious figure to advocate concessions on the implementation of the sharia. Following the coup, Mirghani fled into exile and he has remained in Egypt. Since 1989, the RCC-NS has attempted to exploit DUP factionalism by coopting party officials who contested Mirghani's leadership, but these efforts failed to weaken the DUP as an opposition group."

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28.05.2008 - Source: Amnesty International

President of Umma Party and at least 40 other persons arrested; Deputy Chairman of Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) arrested; many of the detainees were tortured in detention ("Annual Report 2008") [ID 23355]

"Mubarak al-Fadel al-Mahdi, President of the Umma Party Reform and Renewal (UPRR), was arrested with at least 40 people, including many former army officers, in July and accused of smuggling arms and planning a coup.

Soon after, an order was issued forbidding discussion of the case in the press.

On 1 August Ali Mahmoud Hassanain, aged 73, a human rights lawyer and Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), was arrested.

Many of this group of detainees were tortured in incommunicado detention which lasted up to six weeks, apparently to force them to confess to an alleged plot.

Reported methods of torture included beatings, prolonged sitting or standing, and suspension with wrists and ankles tied behind the back (the tayyara, aeroplane).

In November Mubarak al-Fadel al-Mahdi and Ali Mahmoud Hassanain, a diabetic, went on hunger strike in protest at illegalities and delays in the pre-trial process.

On 4 December the state released Mubarak al-Fadel al-Mahdi without charge and on 31 December all other detainees received a Presidential pardon."

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22.05.2008 - Source: World Organisation Against Torture

Port Sudan: The student Ahmed Mohamed Abdu Hassan was abducted on 13 May 2008; he was taken away in a car allegedly belonging to the Military Service Department and tortured to reveal the whereabouts of political activists; he was freed and left unconscious on the street the same day ("Abduction and torture of student in Port Sudan [SDN 220508]") [ID 23923]

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11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

44 alleged coup plotters arrested, among them the leader of the Umma Renewal and Reform Party and the deputy chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party; they were held in incommunicado detention and allegedly tortured ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23047]

"On July 14, NISS officers arrested 44 alleged coup plotters.

The detainees included Mubarak Al Fadil Al Mahdi, leader of the Umma Renewal and Reform Party, and Ali Mahmoud Hassanein, deputy chairman of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and former police and military officers.

After over one month of incommunicado detention, authorities transferred 26 of the detainees, including Mubarak Al Fadil Al Mahdi and Ali Mahmoud Hassanein, from NISS to police custody in Khartoum's Kober Prison and released the remaining detainees.

Several of the detainees alleged that they were tortured while in detention.

In August the government expelled two foreign diplomats who had requested to visit Ali Mahmoud Hassanein.

On December 1, the minister of justice dropped the charges against Mubarak Al-Fadil Al Mahdi and released him after five months in detention.

On December 31, Ali Mahmoud Hassanein and the remaining detainees were released by presidential decree."

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11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

Islamic orders associated with the Umma Party and the Democratic Unionist Party continue to be denied permission to hold large public gatherings ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23058]

"Islamic orders associated with opposition political parties, particularly the Ansar (Umma Party) and Khatmiya (Democratic Unionist Party), continued to be denied permission to hold large public gatherings.

Government security agents occasionally attended opposition political meetings or summoned participants to security headquarters for questioning after political meetings."

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05.01.2006 - Source: International Crisis Group

Democratic Unionist Party - Backgroundinformation ("Sudan: Saving Peace in the East") [#41464],  [ID 12397]

"The DUP’s political dominance in the East for much of the post-independence period has benefited from the sectarian affiliation of most Beja to the Khatmiyya religious sect and the patronage ties linking them to the Mirghani family. The DUP is the political platform of the Khatmiyya, and the Mirghani family traditionally provides the leadership of both the religious sect and the political party. After the NIF came to power, however, the DUP was weakened by the banning of parties and
the curtailment of Mirghani economic activities, though it has tried to resurrect itself within the NDA, which Mirghani chairs.

The DUP has never concealed its unease at the presence of the Beja Congress as an autonomous force within the NDA, one admitted only upon Eritrean insistence in 1995 and which as late as March 1997 Mirghani kept out of the leadership council. Only the SPLM’s growing
influence in the alliance paved the way for these difficulties to be overcome temporarily. The difficulties reemerged again, however, soon after the SPLM signed the CPA, testifying to its diminishing role in holding the NDA together. It is unclear how much support the DUP
still has in the East. In the aftermath of the CPA, senior party officials have stated their intention to participate in local and, if possible, state government institutions, with a view to restoring rural influence and making urban inroads.157 This strategy is likely to succeed in parts of
the Nile Valley, Blue Nile and Gedaref, and may attract some Rashaida support given DUP ties with the Gulf, but results in the destitute suburbs of Kassala and Port Sudan, where most Beja live, may be mixed at best."

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10.2005 - Source: UK Home Office

Democratic Unionist Party - Backgroundinformation ("Country Report - October 2005") [#40562],  [ID 12398]

"Based in Khartoum, leadership in exile. Leader - Mohammad Osman (Uthman) al-Mirghani. Conservative in political outlook. The DUP is one of the founder members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) opposition umbrella group.

The DUP was formed in 1968 through the merger of two long-established parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the National Unionist Party (NUP); it is a largely secularist Islamic centre party and is supported primarily by the Khatmiya Islamic order. [8] (p440) [1] (p1089) Political Parties of the World stated that “After the 1989 military coup, the DUP leader, Osman al-Mirghani, went into exile and aligned the DUP with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), of which he became chairman in 1995.”

According to the report of the 2001 Danish Fact Finding Mission, the DUP is split into a number of small groups but there are two main factions, Hindi and Mirghani."

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