2010-03-27

RAFAHA, Sudan (Reuters) - Sudan's ousted prime minister accused the government on Saturday of destroying the country and forcing the separation of the south as he took his campaign for re-election to one of his traditional heartlands.

Sadeq al-Mahdi, a descendant of the self-proclaimed Mahdi who fought the British in the 19th century, was overthrown by Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 1989.

Mahdi, Sudan's last elected leader, is one of the main presidential candidates in elections, due to start on April 11, that have been marred by delays and opposition charges of fraud.

"This country was destroyed by the programme of a partisan minority," he told Reuters in Rafaha, a town in Sudan's rural Gezira state where he was surrounded by hundreds of supporters.

He said Bashir's Islamist backers had forced their ideology on to Sudan's multicultural society. "(This) has been the main reason why the country has been polarised and broken up."

Mahdi, the leader of the opposition Umma party, said Bashir's divisive rule had incited the revolt in western Darfur and strengthened an independence movement in the oil-producing south, where most follow Christianity and traditional beliefs.

"This has taken the country to very dangerous waters...This polarisation has got the potential to make the south secede and secede into a hostile neighbouring state. This is one of the costs that Sudan has incurred by this coup."

Bashir's government signed a peace deal with southern rebels in 2005 that promised the elections and a referendum on whether the south should secede. Southerners are widely expected to choose independence in the ballot due in January 2011.

Umma's campaign has been overshadowed by that of Bashir's National Congress Party which has jetted its leader around the country with a media entourage.

Mahdi had to drive past a long line of Bashir street hoardings as he approached his first stop of his Gezira tour late on Friday, crossing a new bridge over the Blue Nile.

Crowds of people cheered as the convoy passed outside shops with a few A4-sized Umma party posters on display.

"Our posters aren't the same quality as the National Congress Party's and we don't have so many," said Khalafala Ahmed El-Sherif, Umma's candidate for Gezira governor.

"But they don't have the voices of the people behind them. We have a lot of support here..And we are putting our trust in the international observers."

Mahdi said Umma and other opposition groups still reserved the right to boycott the elections, in protest at perceived irregularities. But he hoped parties would choose to run.

"I think it is a negative thing to boycott...We say it is necessary to contest the elections. Because if there is any degree of freedom and fairness, we think he (Bashir) will be defeated. If not we will document the corruption and reject the results."