Sudan arrests Opposition leader

SUDAN: Sudanese security forces Tuesday arrested Opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi, witnesses said, a day after his party called for a "popular revolution" if Khartoum did not reverse price rises.

"They just took him with lots of security cars, they clashed with one of his staff and also arrested him," Turabi's secretary Awad Babiker told Reuters from the scene early on Tuesday.

Sudan's Opposition threatened Sunday to take to the streets if the Government did not remove its Finance Minister and dismantle parliament over the decision to raise prices on a range of goods. The price increases have sparked student protests in the country's northern agricultural heartland. Turabi's arrest comes as Tunisia grappled with the fallout from the ouster of its long-time President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled the country.

Ben Ali's overthrow has reverberated across the Arab world, raising concerns about stability in other countries in the region which share the same mix of social, economic and political problems as Tunisia. Reuters