Sudan on Satuday shut down all the offices of the country’s largest opposition party, the SPLM-North, charging that it was not a legally represented political party, two of its members said. The move comes a day after fighting erupted in Blue Nile state between the army and ex-rebel troops loyal to the elected governor, Malik Agar, the SPLM-North’s chairman, who President Omar al-Bashir sacked from his job on Friday after declaring a state of emergency. “At seven o’clock this evening (1600 GMT) I went to the SPLM head office in Khartoum where I found members of the security forces who informed me that all the SPLM offcies in north Sudan have been closed,” senior party member Muatassim Hakim told AFP.
The Sudanese body responsible for registering political parties had declared that the northern branch of the SPLM, the former rebel movement turned ruling party in the newly-independent south, was not a legal party because it was not registered in Sudan, Hakim quoted the security officers as saying. Government officials were not immediately available for comment but Khartoum is increasingly determined to assert its authority within its new borders after South Sudan’s formal declaration of independence on July 9. Another party source, requesting anonymity, said he was informed by a number of plainclothes security officers that all the SPLM-North’s activities had been suspended, “because they said our party is not a legal, registered party. Earlier on Saturday, the SPLM-North’s secretary general Yasser Arman slammed what he termed a “coup” by the government in Blue Nile state, and said his party would fight for regime change through armed struggle and mass protest.
