Sudan’s Umma Party Demands Release of Official Arrested in North Kordofan

19 October 2025

Siddiq Ghandour, deputy chairman of the National Umma Party in North Kordofan.

October 19, 2025 (EL OBEID) – Sudan’s National Umma Party (NUP) on Sunday demanded the release of one of its senior officials, who was arrested by security authorities in North Kordofan state last week.

Siddiq Ghandour, the party’s deputy chairman in the state, was arrested on Thursday while travelling to El Obeid from Bara, a town recently retaken by the army, the NUP said in a statement.

The party said security agencies gave no reason for the arrest and have not disclosed his location. His family has not been allowed to visit or contact him.

The NUP described the detention as an “extension of the targeting approach practiced by the security agencies against the leaders and cadres of the party and other political forces.”

It said Ghandour had remained in his hometown of Bara for more than two years during the war, enduring harsh conditions “only to be rewarded with arrest and revenge.”

Activists and political figures calling for a peaceful end to Sudan’s conflict have frequently faced arrest, disappearance, and other violations from both the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The war has fractured Sudan’s political parties. The NUP is split, with one faction supporting the RSF, another backing the army, and a third group, representing the core leadership, maintaining its opposition to the war.