Leading political opponent arrested in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sept 30 (AFP) — Sudan’s security services have arrested a leading member of a political opposition group on undeclared charges and removed him to a secret location, one of his colleagues said Tuesday.

Retired senior police officer and deputy leader of East Sudan’s Bija Congress, General Osman Ahmed Fegerai, was bundled out of his house in Khartoum on Saturday night, the group’s political coordinator Salih Mohamed Hassaballah told AFP.

He was arrested “without any charge,taken to an unknown destination and until now has not been released,” Hassaballah said.

Speaking a week earlier at a public meeting of Bija Congress students at Khartoum’s Al Nilein University, General Fegerai called on the government to “take immediate action” rather than deny a famine that he said was spreading in the east.

Hassaballah speculated that his fiery speech criticising the government may be the reason for his detention.

“The regime alleges that it offers freedoms and makes progress in human rights and freedom of expression while it practises oppression and detention,” he said.

The Bija Congress has a licence to operate as a political group by Sudan’s political parties registrar, Mohamed Ahmed Salim.