Sudan forces arrest protest leaders who met Ethiopia PM

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's talks with protest movement representatives were part of a bid to get negotiations on Sudan's political transition back on track after a deadly crackdown on demonstrators this week (AFP Photo/Ebrahim Hamid)

Khartoum (AFP) - Sudanese security forces have arrested two prominent rebels and an opposition leader, a day after they met the Ethiopian premier during his reconciliation mission to Khartoum, their aides said Saturday.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has emerged as a key regional leader, met representatives of both sides on Friday in a bid to revive talks between Sudan's ruling generals and protest leaders after a deadly crackdown left dozens of people dead in the capital this week.

Among the protest movement delegates he met were opposition politician Mohamed Esmat and a leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), Ismail Jalab.

Sudanese security forces later arrested both men without giving any reason, their aides told AFP on Saturday.

Esmat was arrested on Friday soon after his meeting with Abiy.

Jalab was arrested from his residence early on Saturday.

"A group of armed men came in vehicles at 3:00 am (1:00 GMT) and took away Ismail Jalab .. without giving any reason," Jalab aide Rashid Anwar told AFP, adding that SPLM-N spokesman Mubarak Ardol was also detained.

"We don't know where they are being held," he added.

Esmat and Jalab are both leading members of the Alliance for Freedom and Change, which brings together opposition parties and rebel groups with the organisers of the mass protests which have gripped Sudan since December last year.

The arrest of Jalab comes just days after the SPLM-N's deputy leader, Yasir Arman, was seized from his home in Khartoum.

The rebel number two had only returned to Khartoum from exile late last month.

The SPLM-N has led uprisings among non-Arab ethnic minorities in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states since 2011, that Sudan's military rulers had vowed to end peacefully after their overthrow of longtime president Omar al-Bashir in April.