20110223
reuters

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's leaders have offered tentative concessions as pressure from within the ruling party and possible contagion from uprisings in the region rises, but reformists will only be silenced with action not empty promises.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is maybe in an even more tricky position than his neighbours. As the only sitting head of state wanted by the International Criminal Court, for war crimes and genocide in Darfur, he has few places to go.

His decision this week to announce he would not stand in the presidential election due in 2015 could be a calculated move to ensure his party structure remains in power, ensuring he can step down and remain in the safety of Sudan's borders, far from the reach of the ICC.

But a niggling fear his own party might hand him over to smooth international relations is what some say is holding him back from resigning sooner rather than four years later.

"If he stepped down that's not quite enough to secure him ... because some of his leaders may be pragmatic and say it's better to look after the interests of the country instead of one person," said Osman Merghani, editor-in-chief of the independent al-Tayyar paper.

Officials from the ruling National Congress Party have been quick to say the proposed concessions including an anti-corruption commission and jobs for graduates are not a reaction to the uprisings which toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia and could end Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's rule.

But Bashir first made the proposals and a possible 60-year retirement age for government and party officials to the youth sector of his own party -- designed to appease exactly the group of people who have been the backbone of protests elsewhere.

It could also expose the ageing and stagnant leadership of the opposition parties, many of whom have had the same heads for decades -- mostly over the age of 70.