Sudan Arrests Scores of Former Ruling Party Members Before Protests

Sudanese authorities said they arrested scores of members of the former ruling party, accusing them of plotting acts of "destruction". (AP file photo)
Sudanese authorities said they arrested scores of members of the former ruling party, accusing them of plotting acts of "destruction". (AP file photo)
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Sudan Arrests Scores of Former Ruling Party Members Before Protests

Sudanese authorities said they arrested scores of members of the former ruling party, accusing them of plotting acts of "destruction". (AP file photo)
Sudanese authorities said they arrested scores of members of the former ruling party, accusing them of plotting acts of "destruction". (AP file photo)

Sudanese authorities said they arrested scores of members of the former ruling party, accusing them of plotting "acts of destruction", as young people took to the streets in separate pro-democracy protests in the capital.

Police detained at least 200 members of the National Congress Party (NCP) early on Wednesday, officials said, the 32nd anniversary of the coup that brought that party's former leader, ex-President Omar al-Bashir, to power.

Bashir was in turn ousted in 2019 and replaced by a shaky military-civilian transitional government that has promised to hold elections and has regularly accused NCP loyalists of trying to undermine its work and disrupt the country.

"There were groups from the National Congress Party preparing for acts of destruction," said Salah Manaa, a member of the official committee set up to dismantle the remnants of Bashir's political and economic networks.

Sudan's civilian prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, warned earlier this month about the potential for chaos and civil war stoked by the former administration.

Underlying the competing pressures facing the transitional government, pro-democracy protesters marched in the capital Khartoum and across the Nile in Omdurman, marking a different anniversary on Wednesday.

Two years ago, massive protests that raged across the capital and country pushed the military leaders who ousted Bashir to begin negotiating with civilians, ending in Sudan's current power-sharing arrangement.

Police fired tear gas both at the protesters chanting anti-Bashir and pro-democracy slogans, as well as at about 150 NCP loyalists protesting against the transitional government in central Khartoum.

The new military-civilian administration has sought keep the fractured country together and rebuild links with the West since Bashir's exit. On Tuesday, the IMF cleared Sudan to begin to seek relief on about $56 billion in debt.

But many of the economic crises that fueled public anger against Bashir's rule have persisted since he left.

Manaa's committee said authorities had tracked large money movements linked to the alleged plot, and recently arrested dozens of illegal currency traders suspected of working to sabotage the economy.

There was no immediate statement issued by any of the arrested people, or by lawyers representing them. The NCP was banned in 2019.



Israeli Officials Signal They Want UN to Remain Key Gaza Aid Channel, Says Senior UN Official

 Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)
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Israeli Officials Signal They Want UN to Remain Key Gaza Aid Channel, Says Senior UN Official

 Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)
Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in northern of Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (AP)

Israeli officials have signaled they want the United Nations to remain the key avenue for humanitarian deliveries in Gaza, the deputy head of the World Food Program said on Friday, noting the work of a controversial US aid group was not discussed.

"They wanted the UN to continue to be the main track for delivery, especially should there be a cease fire, and they asked us to be ready to scale up," Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the UN food agency, told reporters on Friday after visiting Gaza and Israel last week.

The US, Egypt and Qatar are trying to broker a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.

Hamas said on Wednesday that the flow of aid was one of the sticking points.

Israel and the United States have publicly urged the UN to work through the new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the UN has refused, questioning the group's neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement.

Skau said he met with Israeli authorities at different levels last week and that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation "did not come up in those conversations."

"I think there were rumors of the UN being pushed out, but it was very clear in my engagement that they want the UN to continue to be the main track in delivery," Skau said.

DEATHS

Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, allowing limited UN deliveries to resume.

The GHF launched its operation, using private US security and logistics firms to transport aid to distribution hubs, a week later.

The United Nations human rights office said on Friday that it had recorded 615 deaths near GHF sites and 183 deaths "presumably on the route of aid convoys" operated by the UN and other relief groups.

The GHF has repeatedly said there have been no deaths at any of its aid distribution sites. The group said on Friday that it has so far delivered more than 70 million meals in Gaza.

The US State Department has approved $30 million in funding for the GHF, which touts its model as "reinventing aid delivery in war zones."

Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of stealing aid from the UN-led operations, which the group denies.

Throughout the conflict, the United Nations has described its humanitarian operation in Gaza as opportunistic - facing problems with Israel's military operation, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza, and looting by armed gangs.

But the UN has said its aid distribution system works, and that was particularly proven during a two-month ceasefire, which Israel abandoned in mid-March.

The UN said it got 600-700 trucks of aid a day into Gaza during the truce and has stressed then when people know there is a steady flow of aid, the looting subsides.