Sudanese security arrests deputy NUP opposition leader

August 12, 2014 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese security service arrested the deputy president of the opposition National Umma Party (NUP), Merriam Sadiq al-Mahdi, on Monday evening as she returned from Paris after meetings with the rebel Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF).

She was in Europe for more than three weeks where she participated in a hearing with the European Parliament about ways to bring peace in Sudan together with a SRF delegation and some opposition figures.

Also, she participated in a meeting between the NUP and SRF in Paris last week where the two forces signed Paris Declaration calling to unify the opposition forces before to engage in a national process for peace and democratic reforms in the country.

The NUP leader Sadiq al-Mahdi who signed the declaration with the SRF chairman Malik Agar, travelled to Cairo from where he would brief the regional and international community about this political agreement.

The largest opposition party suspended its participation in the national dialogue process since May after the arrest of Sadiq al-Mahdi for one month. Since, the latter demands to review the process mechanism and to include the rebels.

(ST)