Foundation
In August 1944 Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi, leader of the Ansar, met with senior Congress members and tribal leaders to discuss formation of a pro-independence political party that was not associated with Mahdism. The first step taken was the launch of a new daily newspaper, al-Umma (The Community). In February 1945 the al-Umma party had been organized and the party's first secretary, Abdullah Khalil, applied for a government license. The constitution made no mention of Sayyid 'Abd al-Rahman or of the Ansar. The only visible link to 'Abd al-Rahman was the party's reliance on him for funding. However, there were rumors that al-Umma had been created by the government and aimed to place Sayyid 'Abd al-Rahman on the throne. These rumors persisted until June 1945, when the government publicly said it would not support a Mahdist monarchy.
Sadiq al Mahdi was a prominent leader of the faction through much of the last century.
Read more about this topic: National Umma Party Sudan
Famous quotes containing the word foundation:
“The Bermudas are said to have been discovered by a Spanish ship of that name which was wrecked on them.... Yet at the very first planting of them with some sixty persons, in 1612, the first governor, the same year, “built and laid the foundation of eight or nine forts.” To be ready, one would say, to entertain the first ship’s company that should be next shipwrecked on to them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles & organising it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“In strict science, all persons underlie the same condition of an infinite remoteness. Shall we fear to cool our love by mining for the metaphysical foundation of this elysian temple? Shall I not be as real as the things I see? If I am, I shall not fear to know them for what they are.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)