16.09.11 Sahara Focus Sudan bars 17 political parties

Sudan has announced that it has ordered 17 political parties to stop their activities as most of their leaders and party members come from the newly independent South Sudan and are therefore foreigners.

SPLM-North, who was banned last week, is one of the groups targeted. The party has a connection with former SPLM rebels - now the ruling party in the south which seceded in July.

The crackdown is thought to have been prompted by fighting in some border states between soldiers loyal to SPLM-North and government troops.

South Sudan voted in favour of secession in a referendum in January, part of the deal under the 2005 peace treaty ending several decades of civil war between the north and the south.

The Political Parties Affairs Council released a statement, saying the 17 political groups were now considered "foreign parties". It added: "Their leadership and most members have lost the Sudanese citizenship.”

State owned Suna news agency reported that the parties have the legal right to establish new ones that comply with the specified requirements. SPLM-North has announced that its offices were closed down and most of its party members arrested following outbreaks of violence in Blue Nile state, where a state of emergency has been declared.

Sources: BBC News, Reuters, Bloomberg

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