Updated on
Summary Sudan has banned main opposition party and made sweeping arrests across the country.
The ruling National Congress Party has banned the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) in all states and arrested a large number of its members and seized property and documents belonging to it in different states and localities, Yasser Arman said in a statement.Arman gave a detailed list of more than 10 party members and local leaders who have allegedly been arrested since Tuesday in various states, including West Darfur, Gezira, North Kordofan and Sennar.What is happening now, in different towns and villages in Sudan against members and leaders of the SPLM, is something that was organised and planned over a long period, with the aim of... eliminating the SPLM as a major national and democratic force in north Sudan, Arman said.Other party members said the government had shut down all the offices of the partys northern branch, the SPLM-North, on Saturday.The ex-rebel movement is the ruling party of South Sudan, which formally split when the south gained independence from the north on July 9, after decades of devastating conflict.Sudans deputy information minister, Sanaa Hamad, confirmed that Khartoum had declared the SPLM illegal in the north, saying it was not a legally registered political party following southern secession.But this situation will not have an impact on the members of the party as individuals... The only people who have been arrested were involved in illegal activities, she said.The move against the SPLM-North comes shortly after deadly fighting erupted in Blue Nile state between the Sudanese army and ex-rebel troops loyal to the elected governor, Malik Agar, the partys chairman.
