By Mohammad al-Khatam

KHARTOUM (AA): Sudanese opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi returned to Khartoum on Thursday afternoon after 30 months spent in a self-imposed exile in Egypt’s Cairo.

The head of the National Umma Party — the largest opposition party of Sudan — arrived at the VIP lounge of Khartoum International Airport, where he was received by a number of party leadersö according to an Anadolu Agency’s correspondent at the scene

Airport authorities did not allow reporters or several party supporters to enter the lounge.

Al-Mahdi has lived in Cairo since August, 2014 after Sudanese authorities detained him for around a month in May 2014. The Sudanese government had accused him of being in contact with armed rebels.

[Archive Photo: Sadiq Al-Mahdi taken in 1987. By Bogaerts, Rob / Anefo/Creative Commons]