A Sudanese opposition figure was detained and then released in Nairobi on an Interpol Red Notice that he says is politically motivated.
Yassir Saeed Arman, chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Democratic Revolutionary Current (SPLM-DRC), had arrived in Nairobi for a meeting on Wednesday when he was arrested and later taken to Interpol headquarters, which had received a red notice from Sudan’s military government.
He was found with a Ugandan passport by the police who detained him after arriving from Ethiopia at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on March 5 evening.
In late September 2024, Attorney General Al-Fateh Tayfour announced the pursuit of leaders of the Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces, or Tagadum, against whom arrest warrants were issued on charges of collaboration with the Rapid Support Forces in the war that began on April 15, 2023.
He confirmed that the list includes former Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and several leaders of the anti-war civil coalition.
He protested his innocence, accusing the Sudanese junta of politically targeting those who refuse to side with it.
“I told the Interpol authorities that my case is purely political. I was in contact with some Kenyan officials and friends and I was allowed to go to a hotel around 9pm,” Armani said in a statement on Thursday.
On Thursday morning, Armani said he received a call from Kenyan officials asking him to pick up his documents.
The SPLM-N says that Interpol made arrangements to allow Arman to spend the night at a hotel in Nairobi.
Kenyan police said they acted on a request from the Interpol and the matter is as good as settled for now.
Armani is one of the leaders of the ‘Taqaddum’ coalition, a civil movement led by former transitional Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok who was ousted from power in October 2021.
Preaching neutrality in the conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, Taqaddum had tried to push for a neutral political solution involving all warring sides and stakeholders.
However, it splintered in February when one side backed the Rapid Support Forces forming what was launched in Nairobi as the Sudan Foundation Alliance.
The other half of Taqaddum created a coalition known as the Democratic Civilian Coalition for the Revolutionary Forces (Samoud), which promised to a new political vision and roadmap to end the ongoing war in Sudan.
For its part, the alliance announced a controversial political charter, which was originally intended to form a parallel government in Sudan.
The SPLM-DRC said on Thursday that it did not support the RSF alliance and would remain in Samoud.
However, the party protested that the red notice against Arman was issued by the junta, which is now based in Port Sudan.
An Interpol Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. It is based on an arrest warrant or court order issued by the judicial authorities in the requesting country.
Member countries apply their own laws in deciding whether to arrest a person.
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