On December 12, 1999 — in what became known as the Ramadan Decisions —. Former president Omar al-Bashir and a group from the Muslim Brotherhood staged what was effectively a second coup. The spark came from the so-called Memorandum of Ten. Which became the straw that broke the back of the group’s late mastermind, Dr. Hassan al-Turabi.
It was here that the name Ali Karti emerged among the “four” . Alongside Sid al-Khateeb, Baha al-Din Hanafi, and Ghazi Salah al-Din. According to Amin Hassan Omar, “the four took the memorandum to Lt. Gen. Bakri Hassan Saleh, then Minister of the Presidency. Seeking an appointment with al-Bashir,” who became the fifth signatory. The list was later completed to ten. This marked the split between Turabi, the movement’s godfather, and the president, with state violence used to purge former Muslim Brotherhood allies.
Karti and Al-Burhan: Old Ties?
Some go further, pointing to long-standing connections between Karti and Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — possibly based on regional or ethnic ties — with claims that the two knew each other when Burhan was military attaché in China, according to Dr. Abdel Rahim Omar in his book The Reasons Behind the Fall of Islamist Rule in Sudan.
After Bashir’s Fall: Staying in the Shadows
Since April 2019 and the fall of al-Bashir’s Islamist regime, Karti’s name has often resurfaced. He succeeded in keeping a low profile, yet, according to one Brotherhood member, continued sending reassuring messages that he was in contact with the military — one of the December Revolution’s partners.
After the death of the movement’s secretary-general, al-Zubair Ahmed al-Hassan, in April 2021, and the exodus of many leaders to Turkey and elsewhere, Karti sought to become secretary-general. But fellow Brotherhood members opposed him, citing a lack of intellectual capacity.
Factional rivalries escalated between the Ibrahim Mahmoud–Nafi Ali Nafi bloc and the Ali Karti–Ahmed Haroun bloc. In a meeting said to have taken place on the outskirts of Atbara, al-Bashir reportedly backed Karti — as he had in 1999 — though this time without wearing military fatigues.
US Sanctions and Public Appearances
In September 2023, the United States imposed sanctions on the Islamist leader. Then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Karti, as secretary-general of the Muslim Brotherhood Movement — “a hardline Islamist group staunchly opposed to Sudan’s democratic transition” — was being sanctioned.
I wasn’t surprised when my source told me that just two months ago, a double-cab Hilux pulled up at a mosque in Omdurman, from which Karti and Haroun emerged, hurling insults at those they called “traitors.” I thought they meant the Rapid Support Forces — which they helped establish — or the civilian forces that toppled them. My source corrected me: they were referring to the Ibrahim Mahmoud–Nafi faction.
Warnings, Chemical Weapons, and Political Motives
Readers may recall cleric Abdelhay Yousif’s statement that they did not trust the army chief. And had “infiltrated even his office.” That’s why, when accusations emerged about the use of chemical weapons, my source linked the two. Seeing it as an attempt to implicate the military and sabotage its efforts to build bridges with the international community.
History’s Wheel and the Limits of Power
When will Karti surrender to the wheel of history and recognize that power seized through coups and wars never lasts . His 1999 attempt proved as much. Whether the cost is borne by the people or the army seems irrelevant to him. But what is certain is that neither the Sudanese people nor their army will allow the country to be divided again, as happened with South Sudan. Nor will they accept terrorism that could once more land Sudan on the list of state sponsors of terror . As happened after the attempted assassination of Egypt’s late president Hosni Mubarak. The military establishment knows this all too well.
