The Sudanese government on Friday announced the release of 199 suspects who had been detained following the clashes, which broke out in late January when protests by supporters of the Beja Congress were fiercely repressed.

But a senior official from the group, which does not belong to the umbrella organisation of Sudanese opposition parties and claims to be the only authority in eastern Sudan, charged 16 of its leading members were still being held incommunicado.

"They should be released or given a fair trial," Beja Congress deputy secretary general Ali Munib was quoted as saying by the independent Al-Adwaa daily, that published the names of the 16.