Sudanese authorities arrest members of Bashir's party: source

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Sudanese authorities have arrested several top members of the former ruling party of ousted President Omar al-Bashir, in a move that could bolster military rulers who are under mounting pressure by protesters to hand power to civilians, according to Reuters.

In another part of a widening crackdown designed to remove remnants of Bashir's rule, the transitional military council (TMC) said it will retire all eight of the officers ranked lieutenant general in the National Intelligence and Security Service.

Opposition groups had demanded that the security agencies be restructured.

Protesters take down a banner with a picture of Sudan's head of transitional council in Khartoum, Sudan, April 20, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Sudan's public prosecutor has begun investigating Bashir on charges of money laundering and possession of large sums of foreign currency without legal grounds, a judicial source said earlier on Saturday.

The source said military intelligence officers who searched Bashir's home found suitcases loaded with more than 351,000 U.S. dollars and six million euros, as well as five million Sudanese pounds.

"The chief public prosecutor ... ordered the (former) president detained and quickly questioned in preparation to put him on trial," the judicial source told Reuters.

Bashir has not been questioned yet, the source added. Two of his brothers were also detained on allegations of corruption, the source said.

Sudanese demonstrators protest outside the defense ministry in Khartoum, Sudan April 20, 2019. /Reuters Photo

Separately, a source in Bashir's National Congress Party said authorities arrested the acting party head Ahmed Haroun, former first vice president Ali Osman Taha, former Bashir aide Awad al-Jaz, the secretary general of the Islamic movement Al-Zubair Ahmed Hassan and former parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim al-Taher.

The source also said parliament speaker Ibrahim Ahmed Omar and presidential aide Nafie Ali Nafie were under house arrest.

Bashir, who is also being sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over allegations of genocide in Sudan's western Darfur region, was ousted on April 11 by the military following months of protests against his rule and had been held at a presidential residence.

(Cover: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir delivers a speech inside Parliament in Khartoum, Sudan April 1, 2019. /Reuters Photo)

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Source(s): Reuters