Sudan Cracks Down on Ex-Ruling Party

Supporters of Sudan's ousted president Omar al-Bashir rally in Khartoum (File Photo: AFP)
Supporters of Sudan's ousted president Omar al-Bashir rally in Khartoum (File Photo: AFP)
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Sudan Cracks Down on Ex-Ruling Party

Supporters of Sudan's ousted president Omar al-Bashir rally in Khartoum (File Photo: AFP)
Supporters of Sudan's ousted president Omar al-Bashir rally in Khartoum (File Photo: AFP)

Sudan's security forces carried out a campaign of arrests against members of the dissolved National Congress Party (NCP), accusing them of inciting acts of violence, sabotage, and looting in a number of states.

The authorities arrested former leaders in Khartoum, most notably the assistant of ousted President Omar al-Bashir Hassabo Mohammad Abdalrahman, the former Minister Al-Amin Dafallah, and Bashir's uncle Tayeb Mustafa.

Earlier, security forces apprehended NCP leader Amin Hassan Omar, journalist Hussein Khojaly, and prominent columnist Ishaq Fadlallah.

This came following days of violent protests across the country.

A number of party leaders and cadres in the capital and various states were also arrested under the direction of the Dismantling of June 30 Regime Committee.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the authorities issued arrest warrants against more than 200 leaders and activists of the National Party in North Darfur and el-Gadarif State, which witnessed major acts of violence.

North Darfur governor, Mohammad Hassan Arabi, said that five members were arrested for their involvement in acts of sabotage, including burning and looting of public facilities and markets and terrorizing unarmed citizens.

“It was an arranged and politically planned action by the former regime,” Arabi said in a Facebook post.

Protests erupted against the backdrop of the high prices and the scarcity of bread and fuel, but the authorities said they were exploited and turned into sabotage.

The committee asserted in a statement that it had sufficient information about the activities of former ruling party members, saying they committed arson acts, plundered properties, and terrorized unarmed citizens, which contradicts the protest pattern that the revolutionary forces have been organizing.

In December 2019, the Transitional Sovereign Council established the committee granting it broad powers to dismantle the former regime, fight corruption, and recover looted funds from the state.



Netanyahu Warns Hamas of Consequences It ‘Cannot Imagine’ If Gaza Hostages Not Freed

03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. (dpa)
03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. (dpa)
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Netanyahu Warns Hamas of Consequences It ‘Cannot Imagine’ If Gaza Hostages Not Freed

03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. (dpa)
03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, delivers an address. (dpa)

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas on Monday of consequences it “cannot imagine” if the Palestinian group does not release the hostages held in Gaza.  

“I tell Hamas: If you do not release our hostages, there will be consequences that you cannot imagine,” Netanyahu said during a speech at the Israeli parliament, as negotiations for the Gaza ceasefire’s continuation have stalled.  

Netanyahu’s comments came a day after Israel blocked aid flowing into Gaza, where a six-week truce had enabled a surge of vital food, shelter and medical assistance after more than 15 months of fighting.

The move came as talks on a truce extension appeared to hit an impasse, after the ceasefire’s 42-day first phase drew to a close over the weekend.  

Under the first phase, Gaza fighters handed over 25 living hostages and eight bodies in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.  

Of the 251 captives taken during Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.  

Early on Sunday, Israel had announced its support for a truce extension until mid-April that it said US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had proposed.  

But Hamas has repeatedly rejected an extension, instead favoring a transition to the truce deal’s second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.  

A senior Hamas official said Monday the three-phase ceasefire deal is Israel’s sole way to get its hostages back from the group in Gaza.  

Ossama Hamdan said that Israel “is pushing to return things to square one and overturn the agreement through the alternatives it is proposing.”  

He said that implementation of the deal, including by engaging immediately in the second phase, is the sole way to return the hostages.

Israeli media on Monday reported that Netanyahu had a plan to exert “maximum pressure” on Hamas to accept an extension of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire under Israel’s terms.  

Public broadcaster Kan reported that Netanyahu wanted to extend the first stage by at least one week, until the arrival of US envoy Witkoff in the region.  

Referencing sources close to Netanyahu, Kan reported that the prime minister was waiting to see if mediators could persuade Hamas to extend the first phase, failing which he would consider resuming fighting.  

Kan said Israel has drafted plans to ramp up pressure on Hamas this week, under a scheme dubbed the “Hell Plan.”  

The plan includes following up the decision to block aid with displacing residents from the northern Gaza Strip to the south, halting the electricity supply, and a resumption of full-scale fighting, Kan reported.  

Daily paper Israel Hayom said that Netanyahu, unlike his far-right allies in government, “wants to exhaust all possibilities of freeing hostages before returning to war.”