Sudan detains ex-ruling party head Haroun wanted by ICC

Sudan's army has detained a former senior Islamist official from ousted strongman Omar al-Bashir's era who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, officials from his party said.

Ahmed Haroun, who chairs Sudan's former ruling National Congress Party, has been hiding for years and is wanted by the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes and genocide in the Darfur region in the early 2000s.

He has dismissed the charges as political.

In a televised podcast interview on Saturday, Haroun had said the NCP and army may not be politically aligned but were united in Sudan's civil war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

Two NCP officials confirmed Haroun's arrest, but it was unclear why the army moved against an ally.

There was no immediate comment from the Sudanese army or reaction from the ICC.

Operatives from the Islamist movement say they helped the army's advances against the RSF during more than three years of war that has caused waves of ethnic killings, famine and mass displacement. The conflict has drawn in foreign powers and created what the UN calls the world's biggest humanitarian crisis.

The NCP is rooted in Sudan's Islamist movement, which was dominant in the early Bashir era during the 1990s.