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Sudanese Rebel Leader, Recently Returned from Exile, Arrested in Khartoum

by John Tanza

   WASHINGTON --

   A Sudanese rebel leader who returned to Khartoum last week after years
   in exile has been arrested by the ruling military council.

   A family member of Yasir Arman confirmed his arrested in an email seen
   by VOA's South Sudan In Focus program.

   Arman, deputy chairman of a faction of the rebel Sudan People's
   Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), flew into Khartoum May 25 after
   more than 20 years of living in Kenya or in Sudan's restive Blue Nile
   state and Nuba Mountains area, on the border with South Sudan.

   Arrest confirmed

   A member of the Sudanese Professional Association, a group spearheading
   the ongoing protests against the military council, also confirmed
   Arman's arrest in an interview Wednesday.

   Mohammed Nagi al-Asam said paramilitary forces arrested Arman at the
   temporary offices of the SPLM-N in Khartoum.

   "Some groups of the militias of the TMC (transitional military
   council), the Janjaweed and members of the National Intelligence
   Security Service have captured and arrested Yasir Arman from the
   temporary headquarters of the SPLM North,'' Asam said.

   The activist said Sudanese security forces beat other members of the
   SPLM-North who were present during the arrest of the rebel leader in
   Arkwet, a suburb of Khartoum.

   Arman's location unknown

   Arman's family said their efforts to locate the rebel leader afterward
   were not successful. "We went to Shendi Station (in Khartoum) to
   inquire about the circumstances of his arrest and the charges against
   him," an email from a relative stated.

   The family said an unidentified NISS (National Intelligence Security
   Service) officer in Khartoum denied that Arman was in their custody and
   asked the family to contact the agency's headquarters on Airport Street
   in Khartoum.

   Arman returned home last month despite a 2014 death sentence given in
   absentia.

   John Tanza works out of VOA's Washington headquarters and is the
   managing editor and host of the  South Sudan In Focus radio program.

   Before joining VOA, John worked in Nairobi, Kenya where he established
   the first independent radio station (Sudan Radio Service) for the
   people of Sudan. He has covered several civil wars both in Sudan and
   South Sudan and has been engaged in the production of civic education
   materials for creating awareness about post conflict issues facing
   Sudanese and South Sudanese. John has interviewed South Sudan President
   Salva Kiir, former Vice President Riek Machar, Vice President Wani
   Igga, leader of Sudan's Umma Party Sadiq Al Mahdi in addition to other
   senior United Nations and U.S government officials in South Sudan and
   Washington. His travels have taken him across to Australia, New
   Zealand, Germany, Egypt, Ethiopia, Syria, DRC Congo and parts East
   Africa where he reported on the South Sudanese diaspora and the
   challenges facing them.

   A South Sudanese national, John enjoys listening to music from all over
   the world, reads academic books, watches documentaries and listens to
   various radio stations on the internet.  You can follow John on Twitter
   at @Abusukon