Sudan Arrests Opposition Leader Amid Tunisia Uprising

Sudan arrested a prominent Islamic opposition leader early today in a wave of arrests coinciding with neighboring Tunisia's popular revolt, suggesting that other North African dictators may be seeking to tamp down similar uprisings before they happen.

Tunisia's longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled his country Friday after weeks of violent unrest that began with protests over food prices and other social grievances. Similar economic woes simmer under the surface in Sudan and other North African countries like Egypt, where authoritarian regimes rule with a strong fist over a mostly poor populace.

In Sudan, the Tunisian events come at a particularly sensitive time, after south Sudanese went to the polls to decide whether to break away from the country's mostly Muslim north and form their own nation. Vote counting is still under way, but the results are widely expected to support Sudan's split. Independence for south Sudan would mean President Omar al-Bashir would lose control over up to a third of the territory he currently rules.

His main political rival in the north, Hassan al-Turabi, was arrested overnight at his home in the capital Khartoum. Al-Turabi has encouraged student protests in recent weeks over cuts to government subsidies, hiking up the prices of fuel and food. Over the weekend, he called for a Tunisia-style revolt in Sudan.

"What happened in Tunisia is a reminder. This is likely to happen in Sudan," al-Turabi told Agence France-Presse in an interview just hours before his arrest. "If it doesn't, then there will be a lot of bloodshed."

Al-Turabi was arrested after midnight along with his bodyguard, his son and eight other allies from his Islamic Popular Congress Party, his wife told Reuters. "This is criminal. How can they arrest a man who is 78 years old and put him in prison? We are scared for him," Wisal al-Mahdi was quoted as saying.

Al-Turabi used to be a strong ally of al-Bashir, and helped him plan the 1989 military coup that landed him in power. But the two broke ties a decade later, and al-Turabi formed his own Islamist political party. He's repeatedly called for al-Bashir's ouster and has been in and out of police custody.

"Al-Turabi has been arrested before, and I think (al-Bashir) is following a strategy to make sure popular groups are unable to capitalize on southern secession," Roger Middleton, a Sudan expert at London's Chatham House think tank, told AOL News. "The government intermittently arrests him when they get worried."

Al-Turabi's wife told The Associated Press that her husband's bodyguard was released later today, but with bruises on his face, and claims to have been beaten while in custody. Al-Turabi still remains jailed.

His arrest comes at a low point for his former ally-turned-rival al-Bashir, who is wanted on an international indictment for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. Besides the southern secession vote and al-Turabi's opposition in the north, al-Bashir also faces revolts by rebel groups in Darfur and in eastern Sudan, near the Ethiopian border.