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State of Emergency Declared in Sudan

Witnesses said the city was calm despite the troop deployment, and residents went about their usual business.

Hassan Turabi, the Parliament's speaker and the main target of General Bashir's action, denounced his former ally for betrayal, but the president said he had moved to restore discipline.

''This is a coup d'etat,'' Mr. Turabi said in his first public comment since General Bashir addressed the nation on Sunday night.

General Bashir is widely seen to have acted to prevent the National Assembly from meeting on Tuesday to pass legislation curbing presidential powers to appoint and dismiss provincial governors.

Mr. Turabi accused General Bashir of betraying the governing coalition, the National Congress Party, and of violating the constitution.

''We will take the case to the grass roots of the National Congress and decide what to do,'' Mr. Turabi said. ''If these political measures fail, popular forces will have to do something.''

Mr. Turabi, an Islamic ideologue, backed General Bashir's 1989 military coup that brought an Islamist government to power. But rifts between the two men have widened in recent weeks.

''This is a disciplinary measure taken to restore discipline and order,'' General Bashir said of his move to assert his authority over the man once seen as his political mentor.

He said the security situation was stable, no arrests had been made and no drastic measures would be taken ''unless there is a violation of the law or of the state of emergency.''

General Bashir said he had made many conciliatory gestures to try to solve his dispute with the governing party, to no avail.

He promised that freedom of expression and the media would be upheld and reiterated his commitment to Sharia, or Islamic law. ''We paid dearly for Sharia and will not betray it,'' he said.

General Bashir has suspended parts of the 1998 constitution, introduced last year ostensibly to restore a multiparty system, but told provincial councils and governors to carry on working. He set no date for new National Assembly elections.

The amendment to have been passed by Parliament on Tuesday would have introduced direct elections for governors. Now the president picks three of six candidates nominated by provincial electoral colleges. The local Parliament makes the final choice.

General Bashir, whose government has been accused by the West of supporting terrorism, banned political parties and declared Islamic rule when he seized power more than 10 years ago.

Sudan has suffered from 16 years of civil war, which broadly pits the animist and Christian south against the Muslim north, and has cost an estimated 1.5 million lives in fighting and war-related famine.