Sudan 'bans key opposition party'

Sadiq al-Mahdi was deposed by Sudan's current leader in 1989

Sudan's main opposition party says it has been banned from political activities after police stormed its headquarters in the city of Omdurman.

Dozens of Umma party members were arrested by armed police on Wednesday, party officials said.

They said the party was targeted because its leader, former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, backed sending Sudanese war crimes suspects to court.

The Sudanese government has declined to comment on the claims.

The Umma party was also attempting to hold a rally commemorating an anti-government uprising 20 years ago which briefly brought Mr al-Mahdi to power.

He was later overthrown in a military coup by current Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, in 1989.

'Painfully low'

Mr al-Mahdi supports a United Nations Security Council resolution referring those accused of war crimes in the Darfur region to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

At least 180,000 people are thought to have died in Darfur

Some 180,000 people have died from disease and malnutrition as a result of the two-year conflict in Darfur.

On Tuesday, a sealed list of 51 suspects, including Sudanese government and army officials, as well as militia and rebel leaders, was handed to the ICC.

They are accused of mass killings, rape and looting.

Meanwhile, the UN children's fund Unicef, says that funds for its operations in Darfur are "painfully low".

Unicef says that some one million children under five face long-term malnutrition.