Sudan: National Democratic Alliance (NDA); location of international offices; role and mandate of branch office in Washington; the process NDA follows when verifying claims to party membership; description of stamps and letterhead; presence of NDA in Sudan

For an introduction to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including its history, membership and organizational structure as well as a reference to the location of their international offices, please consult the attached summary (NDA 2002).

The NDA Secretary of Information stated, in correspondence with the Research Directorate, that the NDA is headquartered in Asmara, Eritrea, and has branch offices in Cairo, Nairobi, London and Washington (7 Nov. 2002). He further noted that the NDA office in Washington is responsible for coordinating and exchanging information with the United States administration, as well as with senators, congressmen and the media (NDA 7 Nov. 2002). A volunteer committee comprised of representatives of political parties and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) manages the office in Washington and is responsible for organizing NDA membership among the Sudanese who are living in the United States (ibid.).

Human Rights Watch World Report 2003 states that, in October 2002, the U.S. Congress passed the Sudan Peace Act – a law that would impose "greater sanctions" on the Sudanese government should it not negotiate in good faith with the SPLM/A (2003). The U.S. government also provided US$100 million to go to areas controlled by the NDA (HRW 2003).

Regarding membership verification, the NDA Secretary of Information stated that, since the NDA is a coalition organization, its members include all the members of the parties who signed the charter of the NDA (NDA 7 Nov. 2002). Letters confirming membership are the "responsibility of the member parties as these are the only authority to decide if a person is a member of that political party or not" (ibid.). Individuals who want their membership to be verified must bring an authenticated document from their political party to an NDA office, each of which has its own letterhead and stamp (ibid.).

References to the NDA's presence in Sudan are limited (Khartoum Monitor 9 Aug. 2002; Al-Sharq al-Awsat 2 Nov. 2002; VBME 26 Feb. 2002; USCR 2001). USCR reported in their April 2001 Refugee Report that the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) had "joined with northern political groups opposed to the Sudanese government to form the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which has launched military attacks in eastern Sudan in recent years." A more recent broadcast report by the Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea (VBME) included a comment by the NDA chairman Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani who reportedly said that a proposed meeting for "a national dialogue aimed at achieving a lasting solution to the crisis in Sudan" between the NDA and the governments of Egypt and Libya could not take place because "the NDA representative[s] inside Sudan were not allowed to leave the country" (26 Feb. 2002). The Khartoum Monitor reported that "[t]he NDA secretary-general, Pagan Amum, said the NDA authority had directed its members in Sudan to coordinate with the opposition People's National Congress party of Dr. Hasan Abdallah al-Turabi to unify the efforts of the opposition groups" (9 Aug. 2002). The London-based newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported on 2 November 2002 that the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) army had accused government forces of planning to "seize back control of Hamash Koreb town in Kassala Province in the east," which the NDA forces had "seized" in early October.

Additional information on the location of NDA's international offices, the role and mandate of the NDA branch office in Washington, the process NDA follows when verifying claims to party membership, descriptions of NDA stamps and letterhead and the presence of the NDA in Sudan was not provided by the NDA.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Al-Sharq al-Aawsat [London, in Arabic]. 2 November 2002. "USA Warns Sudan Over Military Activities on Eastern Front - Paper." (BBC Worldwide Monitoring/NEXIS)

Human Rights Watch (HRW). 2003. "Sudan." Human Rights Watch World Report 2003. [Accessed 17 Apr. 2003]

Khartoum Monitor [Khartoum, in English]. 9 August 2002. "Sudanese Rebel Arrives in Eritrea, Meets Chairman of Opposition Alliance." (BBC Worldwide Monitoring/NEXIS)

National Democratic Alliance (NDA). 7 November 2002. Correspondence from the Secretary of Information.

United States Committee for Refugees (USCR). April 2001. Refugee Reports. Vol. 22, No. 4. "Seventeen Years of Crisis in Sudan." [Accessed 17 Apr. 2003]

Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea (VBME) [Asmara, in Tigrinya]. 26 February 2002. "Eritrea: Sudanese Opposition Begins Meeting in Asmara." (Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire/NEXIS)

Attachment

National Democratic Alliance (NDA). 2002. "Introduction." [Accessed 17 Apr. 2003]

Additional Sources Consulted

Africa Research Bulletin

IRB Databases

NEXIS

Unsuccessful attempts to contact the Sudan National Alliance (SNA).

The following organizations did not provide information on the above-mentioned topic within the time constraints of this paper: International Crisis Group (ICG), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Internet sites, including:

Africa Confidential

Amnesty International (AI)

Danish Immigration Service

Human Rights Watch (HRW)

IND Country Assessments

International Alert (IA)

International Crisis Group (ICG)

National Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (NARD)

Save the Children - Sweden

Sudan Home

Sudan Human Rights Organization - Cairo Branch

Sudan Info Net

Sudan National Alliance (SNA)

Sudan Net News

Sudan News Agency

Sudanese Democratic Unionist Party - U.S.A.

Sudanese Human Rights Organization (SHRO)

Sudanese Victims of Torture

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