Sudan opposition defector alleges military plot
KHARTOUM, Sept 24 (Reuters) – A former member of Sudanese Islamist Hassan al-Turabi’s opposition party said on Friday some ex-colleagues had plotted to take up arms against the state, as a government crackdown continued on the party’s activities.
The allegation by Mohamed al-Hassan al-Amin, who was a member of the legal department of the currently suspended Popular Congress (PC) party, was denied by a senior official of the party, who said it had been made under duress.
Sudanese authorities arrested about 70 PC members in Khartoum this month after discovering three large caches of rifles, mortars and other weapons they said were to be used in a plot to sabotage the government.
Troops were all over the streets in downtown Khartoum on Friday. They closed off areas surrounding President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s residence, army headquarters and other government buildings and searched cars at checkpoints.
Amin told Reuters he resigned from the party last week.
“The main reason I defected is that … some members of the party were doing what I call military preparations,” he said.
“It was maybe done with the consent of some of the leaders and this activity is contrary to my beliefs. As a Muslim, it is forbidden to use military methods to take power,” he added.
The deputy leader of the PC, Abdullah Hassan Ahmed, told Reuters Amin had defected under pressure from the authorities and denied the party had planned armed action.
Amin declined to say who in the party was taking up arms. He said he had been arrested and interrogated for six days before agreeing to release the information that the party was planning military action. He said he gave the information voluntarily.
On Wednesday 36 people appeared in court on charges of trying to “topple the constitutional system” and of “staging war against the state”, said the Sudanese Media Centre, a news agency with close links to the government. The accused included “elements from the Popular Congress party”, it reported.
SEARCH IS ON
An interior ministry statement on Friday said the searches in the capital were to look for the ringleader of the plot, an official in the communications department of the PC party called al-Hajj Adam Youssef. It urged citizens to give information on his whereabouts.
Bashir said in comments published by the Sudanese Media Centre that the plot had been to sabotage the nation by targeting the centre of Khartoum.
He said it was the duty of the government to protect its people: “But how can we do this if we are busy with an internal war?” the agency quoted him as saying on Friday.
The Sudanese government has threatened to take legal action against the PC, which could lead to it being banned.
The party has been suspended since April, when it was accused of inciting tribal tensions in the troubled western region of Darfur. Turabi, a former ally of Bashir, was arrested at that time.
The PC has accused the authorities of torturing detained party members and said one man died in detention. Sudan has said it is investigating the case.