Prominent figures from Sudan’s Islamist movement have called for opening “a new page” with the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP), proposing a pragmatic, national alliance anchored in supporting the Port Sudan junta and “to defend the homeland and the people,” while welcoming the return of party activity in the capital.
The debate was reignited after the SCP sent a memo to the Omdurman locality’s executive director seeking a date to retake possession of its headquarters, which it says was seized by a security unit. The move drew criticism from some opponents who accused the party of recognizing the de facto junta.
In a Facebook post titled “For the Sake of the Homeland,” senior Islamist figure Sanaa Hamad al-Awad hailed the resumption of party work in Khartoum as “a sign of vitality,” saying the SCP’s formal request to the locality was a “civilized” step in line with regulations. Framing the ground for an Islamist–leftist understanding, she praised the SCP’s early organizational legacy since 1948—its internal elections, cultural production, open political forums, and the emergence of female leaders—adding that the Muslim Brotherhood formed months later and learned from the SCP’s organizational model, with figures such as Yas Omar al-Imam becoming leading lights.
Calling the current war unprecedented in Sudan’s history, Hamad urged a fresh relationship between Islamists and communists based on national independence and support for the SAF junta. She floated a dialogue—or even a “silent understanding”—between two “pioneering” currents to build a “sensible, national, and practical” alliance.
Echoing that stance, Islamist leader al-Misbah Abu Zayd Talha—commander of the al-Baraa bin Malik militia fighting alongside the SAF—backed the SCP’s bid to reclaim its Omdurman premises. In a post, he welcomed the revival of civil and political life “and all honorable politicians who stand with the country’s sovereignty, its SAF, security and police,” if the SCP’s letter is authentic.
Courting the communists has stirred controversy. Critics argue the SCP now openly aligns with the SAF and the post-October 25, 2021 coup authorities, citing a late-July visit by the party’s Atbara branch to the River Nile State infrastructure minister to propose a solar-power project to resolve the city’s drinking-water shortages—seen by detractors as full accommodation with military rule.
Those moves revived longstanding grievances from civilian forces, who recall the SCP’s hard line toward its former allies: the party quit the Forces of Freedom and Change in July 2020, opposed parts of the transitional agenda under Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok until his resignation after the October coup, and—critics say—continued to undercut civilian efforts even after the war erupted in April 2023.
