Sudan strongman Turabi arrested

President Bashir and Dr Turabi: A bitter rivalry

Leading Islamist leader and former speaker of the Sudanese parliament, Hassan al-Turabi, has been arrested.

He was picked up by armed men at his Khartoum home at 1630 GMT, party officials said.

There has been no official confirmation of the incident yet, but the arrest follows an understanding struck by his party and the main southern rebel group on Monday.

A party offical said Mr TUrabi was being asked to explain a "memorandum of understanding" signed on Monday with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which called for joint "peaceful resistance" against the Sudanese regime.

"He had just finished his evening prayers and was getting ready to leave to visit two lawyers who have just been released from detention," said Turbi aide Mohammed Amin al-Khalifa.

"Dr. Turabi offered no resistance."

Rivalry

Dr Turabi, an Islamist hardliner who helped the then General Bashir to assume power in 1989, had always been considered the real power behind the throne in Khartoum.

Mr Turabi has a large Islamist following

He was also considered the political and spiritual mentor of the president and the party.

But cracks in their relationship begun to become public in December 1999 when President Bashir declared a state of emergency and dissolved parliament which Dr Turabi headed.

The president accused his one-time mentor of trying to run a parallel administration and inciting elements in the Sudanese military to organise a coup against him.