Sudan's president pledged toprovide more political freedom in Africa's largest country,which he has ruled since a 1989 military coup, a Sudanesenewspaper reported today.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir told members of politicalparties and civil society groups on Saturday that new measureswould include reviewing a list of political detainees, al-RaiAl-Aam newspaper reported.
Sudan's most prominent political detainee is IslamistHassan al-Turabi, who was Bashir's former chief ideologue.Turabi was arrested in February 2001 for crimes against thestate following a power struggle with Bashir.
A government-appointed human rights body has called for hisrelease, a local newspaper reported last week.
Sudan recently freed 32 political prisoners in what analystssaid could be an attempt to broaden support for ongoing peacetalks in Kenya with the southern rebel Sudan People's LiberationMovement to end a 20-year-old civil war.
Bashir also promised to end media censorship and lift astate of emergency, in force since 1999, as soon as peace wasachieved in Sudan, the newspaper said. But he said it would onlybe lifted in areas where "peace is not threatened".
Apart from the civil war in the south, Khartoum faces anuprising by another rebel group in western Sudan.
Over the past few years Sudan has allowed greater, albeiterratic, press freedom. Bashir's Islamist government said inlate 2001 it had lifted censorship of all the country's maindaily newspapers, but several have said the curbs remain.
The independent al-Rai Al-Aam daily did not say when thepledged steps would be introduced.