Sudan's legendary Islamist takes a moderate view

Turabi himself argues that his mixture of orthodox and modern beliefs hasn't changed at all. He recalls arguments with Osama bin Laden in the early 1990s over the role of women in an Islamic society. In his eyes, Sudanese society is simply changing with the times, and moving in his direction.

A changing society

At night, like modern Middle Eastern cities such as Dubai, Cairo, and Beirut, Khartoum comes alive when the sun goes down and the searing heat of the day loses strength. The tree-lined promenade along the banks of the White Nile River, and the restaurant-lined sidewalks of Afriqiya Street – where older men suck on bubble pipes and unmarried young women and men file past one another and flirt – show a vibrant nightlife that was absent five years ago, when police would beat citizens thought to be behaving in an un-Islamic way.

Across much of the Islamic world, religious leaders tend to argue in favor of a benevolent dictatorship, reflecting the control of one God, Allah, over all things. For many Sudanese, Turabi's backing of pluralism, federal devolution of power, and democratic reform has the faint sulfuric whiff of the infidel to it.

"When Turabi split from the president's party, he wanted to use the Darfur troubles to bring down the government," says Abdul Rahim Ibrahim, a pro-government analyst. "The Darfur people are very religious, and he had a number of supporters in Darfur. He told his supporters to join the political opposition in Darfur, but he always denied that he told them to take up arms, but that he supported their cause."

Intentional or not, after Turabi's open support of the Darfur cause, armed conflict broke out. The Bashir government responded by arming and training nomadic Arab tribes, and according to the International Criminal Court in the Hague, directed those Arab militias to attack the undefended villages sympathetic to the rebel movement. UN humanitarian agencies estimate that some 200,000 civilians have been killed, and another 2 million or more have been forced from their homes.

A solution must come from within

While much of the West is pressing for a large peacekeeping force – from the UN and the African Union – to bring the Darfur matter to a close, Turabi believes the solution can come only from within Sudanese society itself. The first step is to give greater self-governance to the neglected regions of Darfur, to South Sudan, and to Turabi's own birthplace in the East of Sudan.

"Darfur is not a small region; it is almost a continent, and its people are militant by temperament," says Turabi. "The southern problem," Sudan's 19-year civil war between the Muslim north and the Christian and animist south, "was only solved by force, and this was an important lesson for the Darfuris.

"In this country, you cannot solve a problem unless you use force.

"The government cannot beat the Darfur people with the gun," says Turabi. "If the government does not change its policies soon enough, if they don't opt for an equilibrium, based on consultation and consent, tomorrow the country may disintegrate."

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