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Summary
Sudanese security forces on Tuesday arrested opposition leader Hassan Al-Turabi, witnesses said, a day after his party called for a popular revolution if Khartoum did not reverse price rises.Sudan's opposition threatened on Sunday to take to the streets if the government did not remove its finance minister and dismantle parliament over the decision to raise prices on a range of goods. The price increases have sparked student protests in the country's northern agricultural heartland. Turabi's arrest comes as Tunisia grappled with the fallout from the ouster of its long-time president Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled the country on Friday after three weeks of violent unrest sparked by social grievances. Ben Ali's overthrow has reverberated across the Arab world, raising concerns about stability in other countries in the region which share the same mix of social, economic and political problems as Tunisia. Turabi's arrest also comes at a politically sensitive time for the government of President Omar Hassan al Bashir, who stands to lose control over the oil-producing south in a referendum agreed as part of a 2005 peace deal to end a north-south civil war. Sudan is also deep in economic crisis with a current account deficit and currency devaluation driving up inflation.
