Sudan arrests Eritrea opposition figure

Kassala, Sudan

By AFP

Sudanese security forces have arrested an Eritrean opposition leader in Khartoum without giving any reasons, a member of his party said on Tuesday.

"The Sudanese security forces arrested the head of the Eritrean Liberation Front and head of the Eritrean National Council Hussein Khalifa on Saturday without giving any reasons," the party member said on condition of anonymity.

Agents from the National Intelligence and Security Service came to Khalifa's home and took him without giving any information.

NISS also detained "a member of the front's executive office Abdullah Hamodai from his home in the town of Kassala" in eastern Sudan, the party member told AFP.

"We fear they will be handed over to the ruling regime in Eritrea," the source said.
There was no way to immediately confirm Khalifa's detention as NISS does not normally comment to media about individual cases.

The Eritrean National Council is an alliance of groups opposed to the authoritarian Eritrean president, Isaias Afwerki.

Eastern Sudan is home to thousands of Eritrean refugees.

Sudan had accused Eritrea of backing rebel groups in its impoverished eastern region but since the end of that insurgency in 2006, relations between Khartoum and Asmara have improved.

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