 Sudanese Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi gives an interview to AFP in Khartoum. AFP photo. |
Sudanese security officers arrested Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi from his Khartoum home early on Tuesday just hours after he warned in an AFP interview of a Tunisia-style uprising.
Turabi's detention shortly before 1:00 am (2200 GMT Monday) was part of a wave of arrests against members of his Popular Congress Party, or PCP, his son Siddig al-Turabi said, as Sudan stands at a crossroads following a landmark southern independence vote expected to lead to the partition of Africa's largest nation.
The Sudan Media Centre, a news agency close to the Khartoum security services, said that Turabi's latest arrest followed the "confessions" of senior leaders of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, captured in the western region of Darfur, that he "guided and financed" them.
A spokesman for the Islamist JEM, the most heavily armed of the Darfur rebel groups fighting government troops and allied militias for the past eight years, described the accusation as a "total fabrication."
A Turabi aide said the longtime kingpin turned bitter critic of President Omar al-Bashir's regime had been detained at his home in the Sudanese capital. "It is true," Siddig said, adding: "They never tell you why people are arrested.
"It may be because of the opposition press conference," he said, referring to a forum on Sunday at which opposition leaders joined in congratulating the Tunisian people on seeing off veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and calling for Bashir to heed popular demands to share power.
In the interview with AFP hours before his arrest, Turabi had said that a Tunisia-style revolt was likely in the north as Sudan faces the prospect of partition. "This country has known popular uprisings before," Turabi had told AFP, referring to popular revolts which toppled military regimes in 1964 and 1985.
"What happened in Tunisia is a reminder. This is likely to happen in Sudan," he said, referring to the month-long deadly protests that prompted Ben Ali to take refuge in Saudi Arabia after 23 years of iron-fisted rule. "If it doesn't, then there will be a lot of bloodshed." Top al-Bashir aide Nafie Ali Nafie went on state television to reject Turabi's comments.
Turabi's detention shortly before 1:00 am (2200 GMT Monday) was part of a wave of arrests against members of his Popular Congress Party, or PCP, his son Siddig al-Turabi said, as Sudan stands at a crossroads following a landmark southern independence vote expected to lead to the partition of Africa's largest nation.
The Sudan Media Centre, a news agency close to the Khartoum security services, said that Turabi's latest arrest followed the "confessions" of senior leaders of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, captured in the western region of Darfur, that he "guided and financed" them.
A spokesman for the Islamist JEM, the most heavily armed of the Darfur rebel groups fighting government troops and allied militias for the past eight years, described the accusation as a "total fabrication."
A Turabi aide said the longtime kingpin turned bitter critic of President Omar al-Bashir's regime had been detained at his home in the Sudanese capital. "It is true," Siddig said, adding: "They never tell you why people are arrested.
"It may be because of the opposition press conference," he said, referring to a forum on Sunday at which opposition leaders joined in congratulating the Tunisian people on seeing off veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and calling for Bashir to heed popular demands to share power.
In the interview with AFP hours before his arrest, Turabi had said that a Tunisia-style revolt was likely in the north as Sudan faces the prospect of partition. "This country has known popular uprisings before," Turabi had told AFP, referring to popular revolts which toppled military regimes in 1964 and 1985.
"What happened in Tunisia is a reminder. This is likely to happen in Sudan," he said, referring to the month-long deadly protests that prompted Ben Ali to take refuge in Saudi Arabia after 23 years of iron-fisted rule. "If it doesn't, then there will be a lot of bloodshed." Top al-Bashir aide Nafie Ali Nafie went on state television to reject Turabi's comments.
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