KHARTOUM, 1 June 2003 — A senior Sudanese opposition figure from the troubled Darfur region was released after being held for 24 hours by security services for questioning, he told AFP yesterday. “The security services questioned me on a number of issues but did not tell me why I was arrested and later why I was released,” said Dr. Adam Mussa Madibbu, a member of the opposition Umma Party’s political department.
Madibbu said he had been arrested Wednesday and set free late Thursday. He was questioned about alleged statements he made at a meeting of various political parties from Darfur organized by the ruling National Congress party. He said security services brought up “a baseless accusation that I have persuaded some people to support the rebellion in Darfur,” and questioned him about incidents in the region.
The official Al-Anbaa daily claimed yesterday Madibbu had held several meetings with student members of the Umma Party at his Khartoum residence and urged them to carry arms to support the rebels in Darfur. The doctor denied these meetings took place.
A group calling itself the Sudan Liberation Army Movement has claimed a number of attacks in the Darfur region since it surfaced for the first time in February, and says it is fighting to end the marginalization of the region and not for secession. But the government has refused to acknowledge any political motivation for unrest in the states of North, South and West Darfur, blaming it instead on “armed criminal gangs and outlaws,” and claiming they are aided by tribes from neighboring Chad.
The Sudanese Army denied yesterday a claim by rebels that they had killed 500 troops and captured 300 others in fighting in North Darfur state. An official in the office of army spokesman Gen. Muhammad Bashir Suleiman described the claim as a “false media rattle and fabrication.”
