The World : 70 Sudan Dissidents Seized

Police have arrested 70 supporters of exiled Sudanese President Jaafar Numeiri in a political crackdown after Prime Minister Sadek Mahdi declared a state of emergency, Sudan’s official news agency reported. It said that Energy Minister Adam Musa Madibu announced the arrests, accusing the dissidents of “attempting to foil democracy.� No details or names were given. Numeiri was toppled by a military coup in 1985 and exiled to Egypt. Muslim fundamentalists charged that the emergency measures--expected to be approved by the National Assembly--are an effort to curb dissent in the troubled nation, which is undergoing economic problems and a civil war.