20100328
ALALAM

Sudan's ousted prime minister has accused the government 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, Sudan's last elected leader, is one of the main presidential candidates in elections, due to start on April 11.

He said that the country has been destroyed by the program of a minority.

He accused Bashir's backers of forcing 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.

Bashir's government signed a peace deal with southerners 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.