AFRICA/SUDAN - Tensions on the rise in Sudan following arrest of several opposition leaders

Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) – Several leaders of the former Southern Sudan rebellion and dozens of demonstrators were arrested today, December 7, in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and in Omdurman (the twin city where Parliament is located), while preparing to hold a demonstration against the central government.
Three senior leaders of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - Pagan Amum, Yassir Arman and Abbas Gumma - were arrested on their arrival in front of Parliament in Omdurman. 70 other demonstrators were detained.
The SPLM has led for over 20 years of war against the central power in Khartoum in southern Sudan. In 2005, it signed a peace agreement under which the SPLM became part of the central government, and was granted self-governing of South Sudan. In January 2011, a referendum is scheduled, by which the people of South Sudan will decide whether to remain part of Sudan or begin a single independent state.
The demonstration, declared days ago by the SPLM and the major opposition parties to demand democratic reforms in light of the general elections of 2010 and the law which would regulate the referendum of 2011, were banned by government authorities after a meeting of the security committee, on the grounds that it had not obtained permission.
The headquarters of the National Congress Party (the party of President Omar al-Bashir) were burned in Rumbek and Wau, the two main capitals of Southern Sudan, by demonstrators angered by the arrest of the leaders of the SPLM in Khartoum. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 7/12/2009)