HRW Says Sudan Opposition Members Held with No Charge

Sudan should charge or release six members of opposition political parties which held talks last month with rebel groups on a charter for toppling the government, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

A coalition of large and small Sudanese opposition parties, as well as community activists, agreed to the New Dawn charter in Kampala, Uganda with insurgents from Sudan's Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile areas.

The pact calls for regime change using both armed and peaceful means.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the politicians were detained "in connection with their participation" in the conference.

"Sudan should release the six detainees or promptly bring credible charges against them," Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

"These weeks-long detentions violating due process rights underscore the need for a major overhaul of Sudan's national security agencies and the laws that govern them."

A senior official of the ruling National Congress Party, Rabbie Abdelatti Ebaid, told Agence France Presse that the rights group "should not speak about political crimes against the country."