KHARTOUM: Sudan arrested its former spy chief and other senior military and security officers yesterday after foiling what officials said was a plot to incite chaos and target leaders in this oil-producing African state.
Witnesses said they saw army tanks and armoured vehicles moving down a main street in the centre of Khartoum around midnight, but life in the city was normal during the day with shops in the centre bustling with customers. Sudan’s President Omar Hassan Al Bashir has kept up a 23-year hold on power, even as a series of uprisings troubled the country’s poor border areas, including the conflict-torn region of Darfur. But Sudan has been stuck in economic crisis since the south - the source of most of its known oil-reserves - declared independence last year under the terms of a peace deal.
High prices for food have added to widespread public anger over losing the south and have emboldened opposition activists to call for protests. Analysts say the crisis has also exacerbated divisions in the government.
Kuwait frees on
bail 3 tweeters
KUWAIT CITY: A Kuwaiti court yesterday freed three Twitter users on bail after detaining them for nine days for allegedly insulting the ruler, a rights activist said.
A fourth tweeter, however, remained in detention as his case will be heard by a court yesterday, the director of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights, Mohammad Al Humaidi, said on his Twitter account. One of tweeters was freed on bail of $3,550 and the other two on $17,700 each, Humaidi said. Their trial is set for December.
Agencies
