Sudanese security forces broke into the house of al-Mahdi in Um Darman

The Sudanese daily al-Bayan said on Monday that the security forces broke on Sunday in Um Darman into the house of former Sudanese prime minister and the leader of the Ummah Party, al-Sadeq al-Mahdi, who lives in exile.

The paper added that the security men, who stayed for several hours in the house, were searching for evidence pertaining to the recent aggression which targeted the oil pipeline in Atbara in the northern part of the country. The paper quoted a security official as saying that nobody was arrested and that al-Mahdi's wife Sarah al-Fadel and his son Saddiq attended the inspection of the house.

But an official in the Ummah party, Sarah Naqdullah, said that two members of the party were arrested during the operation, and al-Mahdi's son was questioned.

Meanwhile Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has expressed his regret over the "tense and negative atmospheres" prevailing in the relations between Khartoum and Washington. He said that relations between the two countries were good before the bombardment of al-Shifaa factory in August 1998.