Nairobi/Khartoum - Sudanese opposition leader Hassan al- Turabi has been arrested for saying that President Omar Beshir should face war crimes charges in relation to the Darfur conflict, reports said Thursday.

Al-Turabi's wife Wisal al-Mahdi told the Sudan Tribune that security agents came for the leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP) just before midnight on Wednesday.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is deliberating whether to issue an arrest warrant for Beshir.

The ICC's chief prosecutor accuses Beshir of using the Arab Janjaweed militia to commit atrocities against Darfur's black population and suppress rebel groups.

Sudan has refused to cooperate, claiming that any move to arrest Beshir would further worsen the situation in Darfur and lead to attacks on international aid workers.

Al-Turabi on Monday said that Beshir was responsible for the chaos in Darfur.

"He should assume responsibility for whatever is happening in Darfur, displacement, burning all the villages, rapes, I mean systematic rapes, continuously, I mean on a wide scale and the killing," the Sudan Tribune quoted al-Turabi as saying.

The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when black tribesmen took up arms against what they call decades of neglect and discrimination by Khartoum.

The UN says up to 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced by five years of conflict. (dpa)