Sudan arrests again senior opposition DUP figure

Aug 2, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese security arrested a senior political opposition figure for a second time in relation to an attempt to overthrow the government last month, a security source said on Thursday.

Ali Mahmoud Hassanein, deputy head of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), was arrested in July along with retired army, security and police officers, and the two leading members of the opposition Umma breakaway party.

They were accused of plotting to overthrow the government and planning to create chaos in the capital. No charges have been brought against them so far.

He was later released but the source said he was rearrested on Wednesday “in the context of the sabotage attempt”.

“His name came up that maybe he was possibly involved,” the source said, adding Hassanein was being questioned.

The Umma party won the last democratic elections in Sudan and formed a coalition government with the DUP before being overthrown in a bloodless coup in 1989 and replaced by current President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Umma breakaway leader, Mubarak al-Fadil, is under arrest and accused of coordinating the coup attempt. He split from former prime minister Sadig al-Mahdi’s Umma Party and joined the government before he was sacked in 2004.

(Reuters)