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Sudan To Ask Interpol To Arrest Rivals
KHARTOUM, May 6 (News Agencies) - The Sudanese government will ask Interpol to arrest two executive members of a breakaway faction led by imprisoned Islamist Hassan al-Turabi, Justice Minister Ali Osman Yassin said here Sunday.
Turabi's cousin Omar al-Turabi and Al-Mahbub Abdel Salam, both members of the Popular National Congress (PNC), are wanted for clinching a deal in Geneva on February 19th with the main armed rebel movement, Yassin said.
They are accused of "incitement to undermine the constitution, and of entering an agreement with an armed organization," the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), Yassin said.
The SPLA said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the PNC in which both sides will try to coordinate peaceful protests and strikes to force Beshir to "hand over power for a national consensus government."
The SPLA, which represents the mainly Christian and animist south, has been fighting successive governments in Khartoum since 1983. Northern opposition groups joined the anti-government fight in 1995.
It was not immediately clear where the two PNC officials were staying.
Hassan al-Turabi and around 30 colleagues have remained in a Khartoum prison since they were arrested days after the agreement was reached.
Turabi, who helped Beshir seize power in a 1989 bloodless military coup, crossed his ally when, as parliamentary speaker in 1999, he sponsored laws to curb presidential powers.
In December 1999, Beshir declared a state of emergency and ousted Turabi by dissolving parliament. In May, Turabi was suspended from his post of secretary general of the National Congress, prompting him to form the breakaway PNC.
He has since then been a thorn in the side of the government, speaking out against Beshir, threatening to expose government secrets and allegedly orchestrating student and other protests that turned violent.
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