Two members of the Sudanese Popular National Congress (PNC), led by Hassan Turabi, were arrested and jailed, joining the party leader and many of his supporters in Coper prison, said reports.
Badreddin Taha, PNC legal affairs secretary, and Dahab Mohammed Saleh, a PNC leadership council member, were arrested at a meeting of the council Thursday night, reported the BBC radio on Sunday.
The meeting was discussing a mediation effort by a delegation of Arab and Pakistani Islamists between the PNC and the ruling National Congress (NC) which is chaired by Sudanese President Omar Bashir, said a PNC statement, cited by AFP.
The crisis between the two parties erupted on February 21, two days after the PNC signed an agreement with the southern rebels' Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), when Turabi and dozens of his supporters were arrested.
In an attempt to defuse the crisis between the two rival parties, the delegation had proposed measures allowing Bashir to "exercise his constitutional powers" and the opposition to "benefit from free elections," said AFP.
But on April 15, Bashir announced the mediation had failed because of "the refusal of Turabi's party to reject the memorandum of understanding signed SPLA.”
Sudan has been wracked since 1983 by a civil war pitting the Arab Muslim north against the mainly Christian and animist south - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
