Opposition parties walk out of Sudan parliament

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's opposition parties walked out of parliament on Monday after President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's party refused to back down over its plans to allow the intelligence service wide powers, parliamentarians said.

The powerful security forces were blamed by opponents for mass torture and murder during the north-south civil war.

Sudan acknowledges some abuses by security forces but says it investigates cases of torture and killings.

A 2005 peace deal to end the north-south conflict included a new democratic constitution limiting the powers of the security service to gathering intelligence.

Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP) tabled a National Security Forces law in parliament which would allow the intelligence service to retain widespread powers of arrest and search.

Analysts say Sudan's national security and intelligence forces are almost as powerful as the army, controlling a myriad of militias and facing little accountability for their actions.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which entered into coalition government after signing the 2005 peace deal, and opposition parties have described the NCP's proposals as unconstitutional.

Both sides have launched media campaigns to push their point of view and opposition parties say they will boycott elections due in less than six months if laws are not amended in line with the new constitution.

Farouq Abu Eissa, a member of the opposition alliance, said: "It would not be acceptable to pass this law with only the northerners present," before his people left the session on Monday.