UPDATE - Sudan releases opposition figure hours after arrest

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KHARTOUM (AA) - Sudanese authorities on Wednesday released the deputy leader of the National Umma Party, the country’s largest opposition party, after briefly detaining her.

"I was released after being held for several hours," Mariam al-Sadiq al-Mahdi said in a statement.

Earlier Wednesday, the party tweeted that al-Mahdi, the daughter of prominent opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, had been arrested.

The Sudanese authorities, for their part, have yet to comment on the party’s assertions.

On Tuesday, Khartoum vowed to release all protesters detained since countrywide demonstrations erupted in mid-December.

According to Sudanese officials, roughly 816 protesters have been arrested so far.

President Omar al-Bashir -- in power since 1989 -- has pledged to carry out urgent economic reforms amid continued calls by the opposition to protest the country’s deteriorating economic circumstances.

A nation of 40 million, Sudan has struggled to recover from the loss of roughly three quarters of its oil output -- its main source of foreign currency -- since the secession of South Sudan in 2011.