Saudi Arabia urges renewed dialogue in Sudan

Saudi Arabia, which has backed the ruling military council in Sudan, says it is watching developments with 'concern' amid a violent crackdown on protesters by security forces.

DUBAI - Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it is watching developments in Sudan with great concern and it supports continued dialogue between the ruling military council and the opposition.

Saudi Arabia has close ties to the council, which has taken control of Sudan since the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in April.

Talks between the military and the opposition, which seeks a leading civilian role in a transition to democracy, have broken down. About 60 people have been killed in a crackdown on protesters by security forces since Monday, the opposition says.

"The Kingdom hopes that all parties in Sudan will choose wisdom and constructive dialogue to preserve security and stability in Sudan, protect the people of Sudan from all harm, while maintaining Sudan's interests and unity," a statement on the official Saudi Press Agency said on Wednesday.

"The Kingdom affirms the importance of resuming the dialogue between the various parties in Sudan to fulfill the aspirations of the brotherly Sudanese people."

Sudan's opposition Democratic Alliance of Lawyers on Tuesday urged "some Arab countries" not to interfere in Sudanese affairs and to drop their support for the military council - comments apparently aimed at Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

The Sudanese protesters say they are contending against an array of entrenched security and military interests left behind from Bashir's long-term rule.

Transitional Military Council Head Abdel Lieutenant General Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo also have ties to the two Gulf states through the participation of Sudanese troops in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen's civil war.

Meanwhile a rebel leader who returned from exile after the overthrow of Bashir was arrested on Wednesday, his organisation said.

Yasir Arman, the deputy head of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) group, came back last month and joined other opposition groups meeting the military leaders who ousted Bashir, according to local media reports.

But since those talks fell apart with the raiding of the protest camp in Khartoum Arman's position appears to have changed, and on Monday he was detained by security services at his house in Khartoum, a spokesman for his group said, without giving any details on the reasons.

No one was immediately available to comment from the security services.

Arman had been sentenced to death in absentia for his part in a rebellion against Bashir's government that started in the Sudanese state of Blue Nile in 2011.

SPLM-N includes many fighters who sided with South Sudanese rebels in decades of civil war fuelled by ethnicity, oil and ideology that ended in a 2005 peace deal, but they were left inside Sudan when that agreement paved the way to the secession of South Sudan in 2011.

Bashir remains wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his forces in Sudan's Darfur region.