Al-Bashir arrests al-Turabi party leadership

The Sudanese government yesterday launched a vast detention campaign in the lines of the leaderships of the People's National Congress party led by Hassan al-Turabi that targeted 26 of them, in a step justified by the authorities for attacks made against university students, while later investigations showed that al-Turabi's party was planning for "acts of damages in a order to create a state of disorder in order to obstruct the peace process" between Khartoum and the rebels in the south.

An official at the People's National Congress said that 26 members in the opposition movement were arrested in Khartoum and other Sudanese cities. Saddiq Hassan al-Turabi, son of Hassan al-Turabi, said that among the arrested are seven officials from the party, including Ibrahim al-Nasousi, Muhammad Elamine Khaleifa and Abdullah Hassan Ahmad who is in charge of the party's secretary general because al-Turabi is currently under home arrest.

He explained that other four officials in the party were arrested in Wad Madani, in al-Jazeera province, four in al-Fasher in Darfour province, and one in al-Abyad in north Kardavan province. He continued that the security forces, on the other hand arrested 28 students in a university boarding hostel in Khartoum on Tuesday evening.

A statement by the police said the arrests were carried out following the attacks carried out by al-Turabi's supporters against a group of Eastern Nile university students and clashes with police members in Um Durman. The police statement added that "large number of persons " were arrested.

The statement also indicated that investigations with the arrested persons showed that al-Turabi's party was looking for create problems in order to create general disorder to obstruct the current peace process and drag the country into "killing and destruction." A source in the Sudanese opposition said that two former ministers were arrested. He said "we do not see any reasons for justifying these detentions at a time when the government is talking about peace."