More political opposition members detained in Sudan

On Saturday, agents of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) detained a prominent member of the National Umma Party in Omdurman. Four members of the Sudanese Congress Party were held in Sudan’s Northern State on Sunday.

On Saturday morning, Mohamed El Amin Abdelnabi, Assistant to the Secretary-General of the National Umma Party (NUP) and head of the NUP Information Department, was held by security agents at the Omdurman Market. He was released late in the evening, after he had to pledge that he would return to the security office on Sunday morning.

NUP Secretary-General Sara Nugdallah said in a statement on Sunday that the detention and summoning of the head of the party’s Information Department is part of a NISS campaign “that targets NUP leaders and members because of our political and media activities against the regime. Moreover, we are currently preparing for a broad Sudan Appeal seminar.

“The regime’s systematic targeting of political opposition members forces [..] indicates how much Khartoum is bothered by opinions of others,” Nugdallah noted.

She confirmed the party’s “complete readiness to defend its leaders and members, and its political position against all illegitimate methods targeting them”.

The NUP signed the Sudan Appeal, a two-page document calling for regime-change and democracy in the country in Addis Ababa in December 2014, together with the Sudan Revolutionary Front rebel movements, the National Consensus Forces opposition parties coalition, and the Civil Society Initiative. Other Sudanese parties and civil society groups joined them in the following year.

Sudanese Congress Party

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Abdallah Shamselkon, Deputy Information Secretary of the party reported that security officers detained the Northern State party chairman Yasir Abdelraouf on Sunday morning.

“Party members Tagelsir Ahmed, Awad Naser Fadeel and Ahmed Atallah, who distributed pamphlets calling the government to resolve the current flour crisis, were held as well.”

Shamselkon said that 12 party leaders and members are currently being held by the NISS. In November last year, Khartoum implemented a series of austerity measures that led to huge price hikes. Dozens of Sudanese Congress Party activists were detained because of their public protests against the government policies.

Kober Prison

The families of human rights activist Dr Mudawi Ibrahim, his driver, and his accountant who were arrested in early December, staged a sit-in in front of Kober Prison in Khartoum Bahri on Saturday morning.

They protested the incommunicado detention of their relatives, without being charged, and raised banners demanding the detainees’ release.