Sudan outlaws ethnic minority party in east

KHARTOUM, Oct 30 (AFP) — The Sudanese government has outlawed an ethnic minority party based in the east of the country after accusing its armed wing of being behind a rash of banditry, a state-owned daily reported Thursday.

The ban on the Beja Congress was imposed by the registrar of political parties and organisations, Mohamed Ahmed Salim, the Al-Anbaa newspaper said.

Salim charged that the party, which draws support from the indigenous Beja minority of the Red Sea coast, had failed to abide by its articles of association by maintaining an active armed wing responsible for a spate of attacks in recent weeks.

He cited in particular an attack on the main Khartoum to Port Sudan highway last Friday in which three pickups loaded with food and other goods were reported seized.

Government officials had previously blamed that attack on unspecified “gangsters” operating out of neighbouring Eritrea.

Earlier this month, Khartoum won rare plaudits from rights watchdogs for releasing a string of dissidents, including Beja Congress member Mohamed Fergerai, who had been detained in September for criticising government policies at a campus symposium.

Sudan’s complex ethnic make-up has sparked a host of uprisings by non-Arab minority groups.

A rebellion by indigenous Fur, Zaghawa and Masalit minorities in the western Darfur region has left 3,000 dead and 400,000 displaced since February, according to UN figures.

Peace talks are also under way in Kenya to end a 20-year civil war in the mainly Christian and animist south.