The Hamar tribal leader Abdelgadir Muneim Mansour has objected the restoration of West Kordofan state with its capital at Al-Fula.

Speaking to Radio Tamazuj yesterday, Mansour said that appointment of Ahmed Haroun and Ahmed Khamis as Governors of North and West Kordofan states respectively “would be acceptable because they are competent enough and both of them also hail from the two states.” However he refused to comment on the appointment of Ustaz Adam Elfaki as governor of South Kordofan.

The traditional leader recalled that the objection of his tribe has been to making Al-Fula town the capital city of West Kordofan (one possible alternative being An-Nahud, now in North Kordofan and part of Dar Hamar, as compared to Al-Fula in Dar Misseriya).

He explained that his tribe has a large population compared to the population of Al-Fula. “We will not accept our area to be annexed to Al-Fula. We number more than million compared to 400,000 Misseriya” he stressed.

Mansour also stated that his tribe has accepted the opinions of some leaders in the ruling party suggesting restoration of West Kordofan state with two capital cities in El-Fula and An-Nahud. The state assembly and three ministries would be in An-Nahud.

“Other than that opinion, I expect a failure of West Kordofan state,” he said.

Another political source speaking to Radio Tamazuj from North Kordofan criticised the appointment of new governors by presidential decree. Himeid Bashir, a leader from the Arab socialist Baath party, said that they were objected to appointment of the three governors in three states of Kordofan. “Despite of our objection to their appointments, in the party we prefer Haroun because the former governor failed totally to eliminate corruption in Shiekan county.”

Osman Saleh a leader from the Sudanese Communist Party in North Kordofan opposed the appointment of governors and described the move as “unconstitutional”. He added: “that move was taken just to please some people”. He suggested that “that there is no need for new states. It will exacerbate the financial crisis and may encourage tribalism in Kordofan.”

File photo: West Kordofan

Related coverage:

Controversy over governor change in South Kordofan (17 July 2013)