afrol News, 27 January - The ousted Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi has announced plans to contest the presidential seat in the upcoming election. Mr Mahdi who was ousted in a coup in 1989, was elected in Sudan's last multi-party vote in 1986.

Mr Mahdi said the April polls to be held after 24 years, show's Sudanese commitment to democracy and rule of law. The polls are part of a 2005 peace deal that ended a two-decade civil war between north and south Sudan.

Mr Mahdi who will compete against President Omar al Bashir who was issued international arrest warrant for crimes committed in war-torn Darfur, has vowed to redress some of the challenges facing theb Arab governemnt in Khatoum.

Mr Bashir, who is widely expected to win the election, is wanted on an international arrest warrant for war crimes in Darfur. However, his government has denied the accusations that it is backing the militias who have carried out mass murder in Darfur.

The Darfur conflict has killed more than 300, 000 people and forced over 2 million people from their homes.

The mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement on January 2005 to end a 22-year civil war that was fuelled by religious, political and economic differences and has cost at least two million lives.

The Sudanese parliament ratified a key law in December setting up the planned 2011 referendum on southern independence after northern and southern leaders overcame a dispute that had threatened to derail the peace deal.

Parliament also passed a law for a referendum in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei on the border between north and south Sudan to let residents decide if they want to remain part of the north or join the south.

By staff writer

© afrol News

Related pages and feature

Current afrol News Top Stories