Sudanâs Islamist opposition leader Hassan Turabi has been charged with a raft of offenses against the state and is to be tried before a special court, the independent Sudanese Media Center reported yesterday. Turabi, who was arrested Wednesday, is accused of âincitement to sedition, hatred of the state, sabotage and undermining the regimeâ and is to be tried before the state security court, it said. The opposition Popular Congress leader, who was detained amid government allegations of a coup attempt by sympathizers of a rebellion by indigenous minorities in the western region of Darfur, had only been at liberty for six months since being freed from three years of house arrest last year.
A one-time mentor of President Omar Bashir, Turabi has been increasingly critical of the scorched-earth policy adopted by the government in Darfur, where the United Nations says at least 10,000 have been killed and hundreds of thousands left homeless by clashes between the rebels and government-backed militias. Militias are conducting an organized campaign of ethnic cleansing to drive out black Africans from Darfur region and the government is doing little to stop it, the UN emergency relief coordinator said in New York on Friday. âI have no reason to believe that the government is actively planning it, but I have reason to say that little is done to stop it, and therefore it seems as if it is being condoned,â Jan Egeland, the world bodyâs humanitarian affairs chief, said after briefing the Security Council.
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