Sudanese opposition leader arrested

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) -- Sudan arrested the head of one of the country's largest opposition parties Monday, apparently because of his links to Darfur rebels who attacked close to the capital this week, his party and state media said.

Hassan Turabi was arrested after dawn at his home in Khartoum, and at least 10 other Popular Congress Party members were detained in a government sweep across the city, said Awadh Ba Bakr, a relative and close aide to the party chief.

Turabi is believed to wield influence with the Justice and Equality Movement, whose fighters launched an unprecedented attack Saturday near Khartoum, hundreds of miles from their bases in the country's far west.

The attack was the closest Darfur rebels have ever come to the seat of Sudan's government, which they accuse of marginalizing ethnic African minorities and worsening the area's humanitarian crisis.

Sudan's official news agency quoted unidentified government officials as saying that rebels already in custody implicated Turabi and other party members as part of a "conspiracy." Interrogations were under way, it said.

Turabi is also a close ally of JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim, who the government believes is hiding out in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman after leading Saturday's assault.

For the first time ever Sunday, state TV broadcast a file photo of Ibrahim, asking citizens to call a special hotline if they saw him. The government also announced a reward of $122 million for information leading to Ibrahim's capture. By comparison, Washington has set a $25 million bounty on Osama bin Laden.

Turabi helped Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir come to power in a 1989 coup, but fell out with him in 1999. Since then, he has been in and out of prison on various charges, and under house arrest. He was never sentenced, and remains influential.

Saturday's attack led Sudan to break off ties with Chad, accusing its neighbor of backing the rebel assault on the capital and raising the possibility of new border clashes that could worsen Darfur's humanitarian crisis.

JEM commander Suleiman Sandal denied that Chad was helping his group in its drive toward Khartoum and called JEM a national movement.

Saturday's assault puts greater pressure on the Sudanese government to deal with the situation in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been chased from their homes since 2003. Sudan denies backing the janjaweed militia of Arab nomads accused of the worst atrocities in the conflict.

The instability on Sudan's western border has already spilled over into Chad, where the flow of rebels and refugees -- many of whom share the same tribal lineage -- over the remote border has destabilized both countries and strained relations.

Sudanese Interior Minister Ibrahim Hamed warned villagers on the Sudan-Chad border to beware of possible retaliatory attacks, and U.N. officials said security teams in Darfur were closely monitoring developments.

Any further clashes along the frontier would have grave consequences for the already ravaged Darfur region.

"This [attack] was an adventure... It complicates the situation in Darfur, considering that the attack put civilians in danger. It may lead the government to stop negotiations" with the rebels, said Mudawi Ibrahim, a Sudanese human rights activist who works in Darfur.

The attack weakened the rebels, who lost many fighters, and could lead to increased government support for Chadian rebels, he said.

Ibrahim had to call off a trip to Darfur with U.N. and European diplomats because of the security situation. "It will be hugely negative for humanitarian work," he said.

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