Sudan - SPLM arrests

SPLM leaders arrested with dozens of protesters in Khartoum

Article published on the 2009-12-07 Latest update 2009-12-07 16:13 TU

Opposition supporters demonstrate in Khartoum, 7 December 2009
(Photo: Mohamed Nureldin/Reuters)

Three senior leaders of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the former southern rebel group, were detained briefly on Monday and then released. The three celebrated their release with thousands of supporters at the movement's headquarters in Khartoum.

SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum. Deputy Secretary General in northern Sudan Yasser Arman, and State Minister Abbas Gumma were arrested along with dozens of protesters in a police crackdown on a demonstration.

Protesters then torched the offices of the ruling National Congress party (NCP) in Khartoum. Earlier, other protesters burned the NCP offices in two southern provincial capitals, Wau and Rumbek, according to a southern government official.

Yasser Arman told RFI that he was beaten while in custody.

“They humiliated us,” he said, adding, “they kicked me left and right and tortured me, and after that they took me to the hospital.”

Arman had harsh words for the NCP, saying they “don’t have any other language” but violence.

“The National Congress does not want democracy,” he said. “They want totalitarian system. They don’t want free elections.”

Salva Kiir, President of southern Sudan, said the arrests broke the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a 22-year civil war between north and south.

"These arrests are not only provocative but unjustified, because the interim national constitution of the Sudan and the CPA allow for peaceful and democratic procession," said Kiir.

The SPLM and opposition parties had called the demonstration to put pressure on the NCP to agree on democratic reforms ahead of April’s elections and an independence referendum for south Soudan scheduled for 2011.

Police had announced that the gatherings would be considered illegal.

Salih Osman, a human rights lawyer who was at the protests, said hundreds of people were arrested.

“It was a quite peaceful demonstration,” he told RFI, adding that no one knows the exact number of people detained.

“They are held incommunicado,” he said. “We are worried about their safety.”

The point of contention between the SPLM and the NCP is the issue of the country’s security forces.

Anne Itto, SPLM Deputy Secretary General for the Southern Sector, insists that the constitution has a security law “with no powers and authority to arrest, detain, torture, or anything.”

By insisting on a national security law that gives the power to arrest, the NCP is not only unconstitutional, but it is hampering free elections, says Itto.

People are afraid of campaigning in the south, for fear of being arrested.

“If there is no democracy, if there is no free and fair election, what follows is conflict,” she warned.