Sudan authorities detain Empowerment Removal Committee members

Authorities this week held three members of Sudan’s Empowerment Removal Committee (ERC), following a breach of trust reported against them by the Ministry of Finance. Wajdi Saleh, chair of the committee, was detained alongside former Minister of Cabinet Affairs Khaled Omar. Also, among the detained was the ERC Secretary General El Tayeb Osman.

Saleh, an outspoken voice and supporter of the dismantlement of the ousted Al Bashir regime, said in a tweet yesterday, that he and Omar were taken into police custody, but the investigation had not begun.

Adel Khalafallah, a leading member in the Forces for Freedom and Change, described these measures against the ERC members as “political, illegal, and immoral”, adding that the goal of holding the members was to only prolong their detention.

The leader of the Sudanese Congress Party (SCP), Noureldin Babiker, confirmed that security agents stormed the party’s house and held Khaled Omar, former minister and party leader.

Party leader in the SCP, Sidgi Kaballo, said, “We call for an investigation by fair-minded parties into recovering the funds of the ERC, without launching unproven accusations before the results are presented to the public.”

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) condemned the the raid on the SCP’s house and the detentions “carried out by coup authorities” against political leaders and resistance committees.

The SPA said in a statement on Wednesday, that the detention of Saleh, Omar, and Osman, was an effort by the coup authorities to defame the committee’s actions with reports and criminal cases, to conceal the return of ousted regime members and cancel the ERC’s progress in recouping assets.

The association’s statement also maintained that coup authorities continue to repeat acts of repression, terrorism and shooting peaceful protestors, to suppress the revolution and cease the demands for a civilian handover.