“We don’t know why he was detained and where he is now. He is 75 years old, has high blood pressure and not in a condition to be arrested,” his daughter Nahla told Reuters.
The state-linked Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) said Abu Issa had asked the Dutch embassy in Khartoum for financial support to organise opposition activities to overthrow the government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
“During a visit to the embassy he reviewed all measures which opposition forces have decided on to overthrow the government, including most recently an attempt to stage protests against high prices in parts of Khartoum,” SMC said, quoting an unnamed source.
Abu Issa is chairman of the National Consensus Forces, a coalition of opposition parties. He was long in exile in Egypt before coming back in 2005 after a government deal with some opposition groups.
Sudan is undergoing a severe economic crisis with spiralling inflation that has triggered small protests in recent weeks.
Sudan’s security forces could not be immediately reached for comment.