2010-04-01
BISSAU (Reuters) - Soldiers briefly held Guinea Bissau's prime minister on Thursday and ousted the army chief of staff in the latest bout of military infighting to hit a country that is a major drugs trafficking hub to Europe.

President Malam Bacai Sanha declared the situation under control but questions over Guinea Bissau's leadership remained after the same group of soldiers teamed up with the chief suspect in a failed 2008 coup against Sanha's late predecessor.

"The situation is already under control. There was a problem between soldiers which spilled over into the civilian government," Sanha said after meeting the new officials in charge of the army.

"I will use my influence to find a friendly solution to this problem between soldiers," said Sanha, who has made tentative steps to restoring order in the country since renegade soldiers killed his predecessor Joao Bernado Vieira in March 2009.

Earlier, a Reuters witness said armed soldiers walked into the U.N. compound in the capital Bissau and emerged with former navy chief Bubo Na Tchuto, who had sought refuge there after being suspected of leading a 2008 coup attempt.

The same group of soldiers briefly detained Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior and said they had ousted armed forces chief of staff Admiral Jose Zamora Induta, replacing him with his deputy, General Antonio Njai.

"(Gomes) was detained this morning. Bubo Na Tchuto has voluntarily left the U.N. compound. The events are related," a Western diplomat in Bissau told Reuters by telephone.

"It's a coup within the army," the diplomat said.

STARK WARNING

Njai later declared his leadership of the armed forces in a joint news conference with Na Tchuto and issued a stark warning to Gomes and his supporters, hundreds of whom had earlier taken to the streets to demand his release.

"If the demonstrators do not leave the streets, I will kill them all, and I will kill Carlos Gomes Junior," Njai said.

The capital Bissau was calm, with some banks and shops shutting and little traffic in the streets.

Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, is one of the world's poorest nations. The official economy relies on cashew nut exports, though the country has unexploited bauxite, phosphate and oil deposits.

Already prone to coups and revolts, the nation has become a hub for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Latin American cocaine trafficked into Europe. Analysts say drugs have corrupted officials and deepened competition between factions.

Thursday's incident comes after last year's peaceful election had raised hopes for progress in reforming the armed forces and instilling confidence in the weak government.

"It has happened at a bad time as Guinea-Bissau was regaining confidence and support from abroad. We will try and see if we can help Guinea-Bissau overcome this," Vladimir Monteiro, a spokesman for the United Nation mission said.

2010-04-01
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A U.S. warship captured five suspected pirates on Thursday after an exchange of fire in the Indian Ocean west of the Seychelles, the U.S. navy said.

After the clash, the U.S. warship chased the suspected pirate ship, which had been damaged, until it stopped, it said.

It captured three pirates on the skiff and another two on the mother ship. The United States said that it expected pirates to increase attacks on merchant vessels due to better weather from March through May.

"USS Nicholas captured suspected pirates on Thursday after exchanging fire, sinking a skiff, and confiscating a suspected mother ship," the U.S. Navy said in a statement. It did not say whether the pirates were Somalis.

Pirate sources and a maritime source said that a Taiwanese ship had also been hijacked on Thursday.

"My colleagues captured a Taiwanese ship after a hard chase today," a pirate named Hassan told Reuters. "They were two ships travelling together but one sped off."

Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based East Africa Seafarers Assistance Programme said the Taiwanese ship Jin-chun Tsai 68 could have indeed been captured.

Pirates operating off Somalia have stepped up hijack attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden in recent months, making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, despite the presence of foreign navies off the coast of Somalia.

INHUMAN

Attacks had created a two-year boom for specialist insurance cover, but stiff competition and moves by owners to better protect ships has taken the edge out of insurance costs.

But analysts say the menace of piracy is far from contained, and unchecked growth in the rest of Africa, possible attacks in other key shipping channels and higher ransom demands will keep insurers interested in the long term.

Somali pirates are seizing ships as far as the Mozambique Channel and off the coast of India and have started targeting ships bringing merchandise to Mogadishu's port.

They are holding captive at least eight mechanised Indian dhows, or small boats. Seven of them, with 100 crew members, were hijacked over the weekend on their way to the United Arab Emirates from Somalia.

Another dhow, the Al-Barari, was seized on Wednesday after discharging its cargo in Mogadishu.

Al Shabaab, an Islamist group fighting Somalia's western-backed government, condemned the attacks on ships serving Somali businessmen.

"It is inhuman to hijack ships carrying goods for Somali traders, there can be no excuse. They used to say they hunt foreign ships fishing illegally in Somalia. Those involved should release the ships," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, al Shabaab spokesman, told reporters.

However, a pro-government militia known as Ahlu Sunna said the rebels were boosting the pirate ranks.

"Piracy is not the same as before, al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam are now the majority of pirates," Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf, an Ahlu Sunna spokesman, told Reuters.

"These rebel Islamists now hold many boats including boats hired by Somalia traders."

2010-04-01
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's main opposition parties have withdrawn from a presidential election, a senior member of one of the groups said on Thursday, a move that could wreck the vote and damage a faltering peace process.

"On the level of the candidates of the Presidency of the Republic, most of them (Sudan's opposition groups) decided to withdraw," said Mohamed Zaki, head of office for Sadeq al-Mahdi, leader of the opposition Umma party.

Zaki said only five independents and representatives of smaller parties had decided to stay in the race against incumbent President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The announcement came a day after south Sudan's leading party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) withdrew its candidate Yasir Arman from the presidential poll, protesting against irregularities and insecurity in Darfur.

2010-04-01
LONDON (Reuters) - Former British prime minister Tony Blair on Thursday added his voice to calls for African development strategies to go beyond aid, saying a predictable and transparent business environment was critical to sustainable development.

Blair whose African Governance Initiative advises three African governments, said developing countries needed to do more to promote government accountability, battle graft and create a "one-stop shop" for frontier investors.

Blair's comments echo proposals by Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo, who has called for a financial market-led approach to development.

"The problem with African countries is not just a matter of aid," Blair told Reuters in an interview.

"The two absolutely critical things for any African country that wants to develop sustainably are that you put together the right business environment and that (investors) can come in on a transparent and open basis."

Blair's initiative operates in Rwanda and Sierra Leone and recently began work in Liberia, all of which are recovering from conflicts and present good opportunities for intrepid financiers, Blair said.

"You've got to put all the caveats in, but the natural potential of these three countries is enormous and the political leadership and determination is there," he said.

"There are very few frontier markets that you go into where there isn't a risk-reward balance, but if the investment pays off, it's going to pay off in a very big way."

Moyo, who wrote the book "Dead Aid", has criticised aid flows, arguing instead for increased trade, foreign direct investment, and use of capital markets through bond issues.

African economies weathered the global economic slowdown relatively well.

The IMF recently forecast the continent's growth for 2010 at 4.5 percent, although this presents a significant drop from the six percent growth rates enjoyed over the past decade.

2010-04-01
JOS, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities charged 20 people on Thursday over their roles in sectarian clashes that killed hundreds in central Plateau state last month, and some could face the death penalty.

Authorities are under growing pressure to prosecute those behind the March 7 attacks on three villages near Jos, the capital of Plateau state, in a bid to prevent future violence.

More than 160 people have been arrested and police say more suspects will be charged in the coming weeks, but Nigeria's judicial system is known to be slow and it can take months before any are convicted.

Police said last week that of the 162 suspects arrested, they intended to charge 41 with terrorism and culpable homicide, which are punishable by death.

All 20 who were charged pleaded not guilty to five counts of arson, terrorism, killing, maiming and possession of dangerous weapons at a federal court in Jos.

Justice Stephen Adah ordered they remain in prison and adjourned the case until April 15.

Fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands between Christian and animist indigenous groups and Muslim settlers from the arid north have repeatedly sparked unrest in central Nigeria's "Middle Belt" over the past decade.

Politicians, diplomats and rights groups have called on the government to prosecute the community leaders and gangs behind the fighting if it wants to avert future conflicts.

Those arrested in past violence have been freed after a few weeks, rights groups said.

MOMBASA, Kenya, April 2 (Xinhua) --Three crew members of a Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) vessel attacked off Somalia waters were on Friday rushed to a Kenyan hospital in Mombasa after docking at the port of Mombasa.

The vessel, named Chol San Bong Chong Nyon Ho, was attacked by pirates on its way to Somalia from Brazil with a sugar cargo on Wednesday.

Port police chief Ayub Gitonga said the vessel had a 40 crew member on board at the time of attack where eight of them were injured.

He said the vessel docked at the port of Mombasa to take the injured to hospital for further treatment. "The crew had documents, we could not deny them entry for treatment," said Gitonga adding that they had been cleared by immigration officers.

He said were it not for good fire-fighting equipment the vessel would have caught fire under the pirates' attack.

The vessel had a large mark suspected to have been caused by a rocket propelled grenade launcher during that daring attack

A crew member on board the vessel suspected to have been injured was seen limping with a bandage on one of his legs.

Despite a heavy presence of well equipped international naval forces patrolling the high seas of the Indian Ocean, Somali pirates have continued to launch attacks on ships passing through the corridor.

Almost three weeks ago, eight pirates were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment after the court found them guilty of attempting to hijack a ship.

LAGOS, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Ailing Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has met with top Islamic clerics in the country's capital of Abuja, media reported on Friday.

DAKAR, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau President Malam Bacai Sanha held a meeting with Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior on Friday after the West African country was shocked by soldiers' action to arrest the government leader the previous day.

Gomes Junior was witnessed with a group of soldiers on his way to the presidency for an urgent meeting, a sign indicating that he was still under watch after reportedly released on Thursday, according to reports reaching here.

The situation is complicated with government ministers condemning Thursday's event at an extraordinary meeting, and soldiers detaining the chief of defense staff, General Jose Zamora Induta, and 40 other officers.

Induta's deputy Antonio Indjai replaced him as the new army chief, who said on Thursday that the army was still submissive to political powers, while threatening to kill the prime minister if protests continued against the military action.

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the office of the prime minister in the capital Bissau, protesting against "coup d'etat" after Gomes Junior was taken away from his office by soldiers to an unknown place on Thursday morning.
Although President Sanha declared later in the day that "calm" had returned, the detention sparked an outcry from the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the United States.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Thursday called on the military and political leadership in Guinea-Bissau to "resolve differences by peaceful means and to maintain constitutional order and ensure respect for the rule of law."

The unrest in Guinea-Bissau is the latest in a series to hit West Africa, where Mauritania, Guinea and Niger have witnessed the military coup since 2008.

The regional bloc ECOWAS was wary of another coup in Guinea- Bissau after President Joao Bernardo Vieira was assassinated on March 2, 2009. ECOWAS kept watch on the country until the holding of elections on June 28, 2009, when Sanha was elected the new president.

ECOWAS has since warned that the military reform is critical to ensure the post-assassination stability in Guinea-Bissau.
Instability including the 1998-1999 civil war has haunted the country of 1.5 million population since its independence from Portugal 35 years ago. Coup attempts have repeatedly hit the headlines in Guinea-Bissau, especially since 2008.

The West African country of 1.5 million population foiled a mutiny after holding a legislative election in November 2008, when the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde won the victory.

The Interior Ministry reported another "coup attempt" in early June 2009, just days ahead of the June 28 presidential election.

The country is among the poorest in the world, being ranked the 175th out of 177 nations in the U.N. Development Program's Human Development Index.

With a jagged Atlantic coastline, Guinea-Bissau is chosen by traffickers as a major hub for the flow of cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau's Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior was briefly detained on Thursday by military officers amid renewed fears of coup in the West African country.

Instability including the 1998-1999 civil war has haunted the country of a population of 1.5 million since its independence from Portugal 35 years ago.

The following is a chronology of key political events in Guinea-Bissau since 1980:

In November 1980, then prime minister Joao Bernardo Vieira ousted then president Luis Cabral, and took control of the country as president of the military-dominated revolutionary council.

In August 1994, Vieira won the first multiparty presidential election.

In June 1998, Vieira dismissed the army's chief of staff Ansumane Mane. The latter mounted a coup which failed and led to a civil war

In May 1999, Vieira was ousted by Mane's force. The president of the National Assembly (parliament), Malam Bacai Sanha, was named president of the transitional government.

In November 1999, Kumba Yala was elected as new president.

In September 2003, General Verissimo Seabra Correia launched a non-violent coup and arrested Yala. Henrique Rosa was named head of state.

In October 2004, several soldiers shoot Seabra to death.

In July 2005, Vieira returned and won the presidential election. He took office in October.

In March 2009, Vieira and army chief of staff Tagme Na Waie were assassinated. President of the National Assembly, Raimundo Pereira, assumed the interim presidency.

In June 2009, three senior politicians including a presidential candidate were killed by military police in what authorities said was a foiled coup plot.

In July 2009, Malam Bacai Sanha won the presidency.

MOGADISHU, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Islamist insurgent group of Al Shabaab in Somalia on Thursday vowed to take over the capital Mogadishu before the conclusion of the planned by European Union (EU) mission to train Somali government forces in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

The EU governments on Wednesday approved a Spanish-led military mission, starting April, to train almost 2,000 Somali government forces in Kampala, the Ugandan capital.

Sheikh Ali Mohamoud Raage, spokesman for Al Shabaab, the hardline Islamist group fighting the Somali government, said that the EU mission will further escalate Somalia conflict but vowed the group would take over the capital before the end of the training for the Somali troops.

The Islamist group, which controls much of south and center of Somalia, is the biggest and most powerful insurgent movement and has been waging deadly insurgency against the Somali government.

Somali government, which controls only parts of the restive capital with the backing of 5,000 African Union peacekeepers, has sent hundreds of new recruits for training in neighboring countries.

Somali government has lately been planning to launch a major offensive to drive out Islamist rebels from the capital Mogadishu in the initial stages of the onslaught and extend it to other insurgent controls parts of south and center of Somalia.

The EU mission is part of Somali government's plan to train nearly 6,000 troops to help stabilize the chaotic east African nation which has been through civil conflict for almost the past two decades.

KHARTOUM, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese opposition parties on Thursday divided among themselves where some decided to boycott the general elections, slated for April this year, some decided to participate and others said would announce their positions later.

After a prolonged meeting in Khartoum Thursday, the opposition parties issued a statement in which they said they have decided to boycott the elections.

However, the Popular Congress, the National Alliance and the Sudanese Congress parties have said they would participate in the elections, while the two major parties, the National Umma, led by Sidq al-Mahdi, and the Democratic Unionist Party, led by Mohamed Osman al-Merghani, have not yet decided their position.

The statement demanded postponement of the elections until November citing the lack of suitable political atmosphere, and the need to avail the opportunity to resolve the Darfur issue and involve the region in the elections.

The opposition parties, in their statement, also demanded dissolving of the National Elections Commission (NEC) and replacing it with personas, to be selected consensually by the political parties and the government, and correcting the NEC mistakes.

"The Sudanese political parties' alliance has seen defects in the current electoral process, a matter which will cause the elections to be unfair," the statement said.
The opposition parties further accused the NEC of being biased in favor of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

In the meantime, the Umma Party (Reform and Renewal) and the Communist Party affirmed that they have withdrawn their candidates from the Sudanese presidential race.

"We have decided to withdraw from the presidential and legislative elections and we will not return to take part unless the government agrees to reform the NEC and respond to the complaints filed on broad violations in the electoral process," Spokesman of the Sudanese opposition parties, Farouq Abu Iyssa told reporters Thursday.

Mohamed Ibrahim Nugud, the chairman of the Sudanese Communist Party and the party's presidential candidate said that his party had decided to boycott the elections at all levels.

As for the Popular Congress Party, led by Hassan al-Turabi, it said it would participate in the elections.

The Democratic Unionist Party has not stated whether it would participate in the elections or boycott them, but the party leader Mohamed Osman al-Merghani earlier in the day affirmed that his party's position regarding the elections "will be decided in the coming days."

Abdul-Aziz Khalid, the presidential candidate of the National Alliance Party, and four others have affirmed their participation in the elections.

On Wednesday, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) announced withdrawal of its presidential candidate and said it would boycott the elections in the Darfur region.

KHARTOUM, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The Sudanese government on Thursday expressed appreciation of what it termed as "supportive U. S. stance" in the preparation of the country's general elections.

"We express our appreciation of the United States' keenness to help Sudan hold the elections on scheduled time, as well as the U. S. commitment to providing logistic support for the elections," Nafie Ali Nafie, assistant to the Sudanese president, told reporters following a meeting with U.S. special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration in Khartoum.

In the meantime, the Sudanese official praised what he considered as a "rational political stance" on the part of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the preparation of the general elections.

He vowed to organize the referendum on self-determination for southern Sudan, saying "we are committed to organizing the referendum with the same transparency and keenness. We are fully ready to accept the referendum result."

The U.S. envoy on Thursday held a series of talks with the Sudanese government officials and leaders of a number of opposition political parties, with the focus on the opposition parties' stance regarding the general elections.

KHARTOUM, April 1 (Xinhua) -- The opposition may nominate one candidate for the presidential race, said a major Sudanese opposition leader Thursday, only a few hours before a meeting for Sudanese opposition parties to decide their position towards the elections.

"The opposition parties may agree to support one presidential candidate to compete with candidate of the National Congress Party (NCP), Omar al-Bashir," Mubarak al-Fadil al-Mahdi, chairman of National Umma Party (Reform and Renewal), told reporters in Khartoum Thursday.

He suggested that the opposition parties could agree also to partial elections and exclusion of the Darfur region until the Darfur crisis is resolved.

"It will be difficult to conduct the elections in Darfur under the deteriorated security conditions there," he said.

Sudanese opposition political parties recently submitted a memo to the Presidency and the National Elections Commission (NEC), demanding postponement of the elections until November, but the Sudanese president refused to postpone the elections even for "a single day".

This year's general elections will be the first multi-party elections in Sudan in more than 20 years.

DAKAR, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Guinea-Bissau's new army chief Antonio Indjai said on Thursday the country's army is submissive to political power, according to news reaching here.

The move came after the west African nation witnessed a political unrest early in the day.

In a statement read on national radio, the new army chief reiterated that the army remains to political power.

Guinea-Bissau's Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior was briefly detained on Thursday by military officers amid renewed fears of coup in the Atlantic Ocean country in West Africa.

Instability including the 1998-1999 civil war has haunted the country of 1.5 million population since its independence from Portugal 35 years ago. Coup attempts have repeatedly hit the headlines in Guinea-Bissau, especially since 2008.

In the latest incident, which is already seen by many as another coup d'etat, Minister of Territorial Administration Luis Sanca was also taken hostage after the military officers broke into the office of the prime minister in the capital Bissau.

On Thursday morning, national radio stopped broadcasting programs and started playing military songs.

In the capital city, banks and office buildings were shut down.On the streets, only military vehicles could be seen moving, witnesses told Xinhua by phone.

Reports reaching here said the situation in the capital in under control now.

The West African country of 1.5 million population foiled a mutiny after holding a legislative election in November 2008, when the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC) won the victory.

The country is among the poorest in the world, being ranked the 175th out of 177 nations in the U.N. Development Program's Human Development Index.

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PRESS TV

After an apparent coup attempt in Guinea-Bissau, the country's Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior says he will not resign his post.

The West African nation's premier, who was arrested by a group of soldiers on Thursday and freed after several hours, downplayed the army mutiny, adding that he would not resign.

"I will not resign because I was democratically elected. I consider what happened on Thursday as an incident," he told journalists after discussing the situation with the country's president, Malam Bacai Sanha.

Renegade soldiers threatened to kill Gomes on Thursday.

Despite Thursday's rebellion, which drew global condemnation from the United Nations and many other countries, Gomes said the situation in the country had stabilized.

"The situation is now stable. I can assure you that institutions will return to their normal functions," he stated.

The poor West African nation has fallen victim to a series of coups since declaring independence from Portugal in the 1970s.

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PRESS TV

Two weeks after dissolving the country's cabinet, Nigeria's acting president Goodluck Jonathan says he will swear in 38 ministers to a new cabinet on Tuesday.

The announcement, which is expected to ease political uncertainty in Africa's most populous nation, comes as the country's Senate confirmed a list of 33 ministerial nominees for the new cabinet earlier on Wednesday.

"The acting president will on Tuesday, April 6 swear in the newly appointed ministers at the state house," spokesman Ima Niboro said, adding that Jonathan would assign them portfolios immediately afterwards.

Only nine ministers from the former cabinet have been included in the recently-approved list.

Former oil minister Odein Ajumogobia, ex-justice minister Adetokunbo Kayode and former Niger Delta minister Godsday Orubebe are among those scheduled to be retained in the cabinet.

Former vice president Jonathan took over as Nigeria's acting leader a month ago, seeking to fill a power vacuum imposed on the country due to President Umaru Yar'Adua serious illness.

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ALLAFRICA

Harare — THE South African government has appealed against a ruling by a Pretoria High Court judge last month upholding a Sadc Tribunal judgement ordering Zimbabwe to compensate white farmers for land acquired for resettlement.

The appeal effectively stops the farmers, represented by a body that calls itself Afriforum, from attaching Zimbabwe Government property in South Africa.

Chief Director for Public Diplomacy in South Africa's Department of International Relations Mr Kgomotso Molobi on Wednesday told The Herald that they had appealed against the ruling.

Justice Garth Rabbie's ruling sought to enforce the Sadc Tribunal judgement in South Africa and white farmers were preparing to attach what they said were Zimbabwe Government properties in that country.

"The South African government has studied the judgement and it is appealing against it. However, we can't comment further because the matter is before the courts and it would be sub-judice," Mr Molobi said.

Zimbabwe's Ambassador to South Africa, Simon Khaya Moyo, on Wednesday said: "The whole effort by this Afriforum organisation is to push a racial agenda.

"It is a well-known racial organisation represented only by white people," Ambassador Khaya Moyo said.

"They only serve the interests of white former Rhodesian farmers who do not appreciate the land reform programme but we cannot be bound by their wishful thinking.

"This push to attach Zimbabwe Government property is absolutely nonsensical."

In a recent interview with The Herald, Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa said all Government properties were protected by diplomatic protocols and could not be attached.

"Any judgement cannot be enforced and it is a matter of what the South African government would do to protect our properties.

"They cannot touch any of our properties because they are under diplomatic immunity. If they think they can get anything through the South African courts, they are just daydreaming," he said.

Online news reports on Tuesday indicated Afriforum was trying to attach three properties on the Cape Peninsula after identifying about 11 others, including four houses in Cape Town.

Zimbabwe's High Court has already refused to register the Sadc Tribunal ruling here saying it is against the national interest.

Government has said the ruling seeks to reverse the revolutionary land reform programme.

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PRESS TV

A US warship has captured five suspected pirates who had opened fire from a small boat in the Indian Ocean near the Seychelles, the US Navy says.

On Thursday, The USS Nicholas, a US Navy frigate, was in the Indian Ocean just west of the Seychelles when it began to take fire from a suspected pirate vessel shortly after midnight local time.

The navy ship returned fire and pursued the pirate skiff for over an hour until it broke down and US sailors were able to board the vessel.

The Americans took three suspects into custody before sinking the vessel, the US Sixth Fleet said in a statement.

Two more suspected pirates were detained from a 'mother ship,' which was also seized, it said.

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aljazeera



Five of Sudan's opposition parties have decided to boycott voting for parliament and regional governorships, a day after pulling out of presidential elections.

The extended boycott is part of an effort to further discredit forthcoming polls after allegations of widespread fraud and bias were ignored by the governing National Congress Party (NCP).

But unity amongst the opposition ranks is being threatened with at least two other opposition parties still unwilling to commit to a full withdrawal from the polls at present.

Despite deciding to pull out of the presidential polls, the Umma Party on Friday gave the government four days to meet a series of key demands, including a four-week postponement for the election.

The decision not to commit to full withdrawal comes amid concerns the party's grassroots activists may not support extending the boycott.

"Their lower ranks have invested time and personal money in their campaigns," one source said. "They may see a revolt if they go for a full boycott."

Demands

The party's other demands include freezing oppressive security laws, creation of a body to oversee the National Elections Commission they accuse of bias towards the NCP, fair access to state media, and for the ruling party to stop using state resources in its campaign.

"If these eight conditions are not fulfilled by April 6, the Umma party will boycott all the process of elections," Sara Luqdallah, a senior party official, said.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) appeared to retreat from an earlier committment to join a full boycott following talks with opposition leaders and the NCP on Friday.

Amid continuing uncertainty over the elections, Scott Gration, the US envoy, arrived in Khartoum on Thursday. Umma party officials said Gration was "trying to achieve the delay" to salvage the elections' credibility.

Analysts said that this week's withdrawals from the presidential election, triggered by a shock annoucement from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) on Wednesday that its presidential cadidate would not run, had effectively handed a hollow first-round victory to Omar al-Bashir, the sitting president.

Opposition fears

The boycott comes after al-Bashir repeatedly dismissed calls from opposition parties for the elections to be delayed until November on the basis that the country is not ready to go to the polls.

The opposition says many candidates have not been given fair opportunity to carry out significant electoral campaigns in the volatile country.

They have insisted that going ahead with the elections would be a "disaster" for Sudan.

Speaking on Wednesday, Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), the biggest opposition group in Darfur, told Al Jazeera that many eligable voters are being excluded from taking part in the polls.

"These elections are based mainly on false senses, especially in Darfur," he said. "Masses of populations ... will be excluded from the elections."

'Chaos and war'

Ibrahim warned that an al-Bashir victory would be a catastrophe for the country. "He will continue the violence, especially in the west part of Sudan," he said.

"I don't think the other parties will accept this, there will be chaos and war if he [al-Bashir] wins."

But al-Bashir's NCP deny that there is a popular appetite for delaying the polls and say they will push ahead with the process.

Dr Omar Rahman, a senior NCP member, told Al Jazeera that people in Sudan are keen for the elections to go ahead.

"Whether they [the SPLM] participate or not, the people have decided that elections are something they have looked forward to for years," he said on Thursday, before news of the opposition boycott broke.

"We are looking forward to peaceful and transparant elections."

The NCP has ruled Sudan in a coalition with the SPLM since a peace deal ended a 22-year civil war between North and South Sudan in 2005, and many see successful elections as a key part of a fragile peace process.

The north-south war claimed an estimated two million lives and destabilised much of East Africa.

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aljazeera



Umaru Yar'Adua, the ailing Nigerian president, has met senior Islamic clerics at his residence in the capital, Abuja, media outlets have reported.

Ustaz Musa Mohammed, the chief imam of the Abuja National Mosque, told Nigeria's ThisDay and Daily Trust newspapers on Friday, that he met Yar'Adua at the president's palace and prayed with him on Thursday.

Mohammed said Yar'Adua did not stand for the five-minute visit, though the president could pray aloud and raise his hands when "communicating with Allah".

"We set up the meeting because we wanted to know the truth to see whether he is alive," Mohammed said. "We have now seen him and we are satisfied that he is recovering."

The 58-year-old leader, who has long suffered from kidney ailments, has not made a public appearance since he left for treatment in Saudi Arabia at the end of November. He was flown back to Nigeria two months ago but remains too frail to govern.

Power transfer

Goodluck Jonathan, his deputy, has taken over his executive powers as acting president in his absence.

Yar'Adua's secretive return in the middle of the night raised fears that his inner circle of aides, led by his wife Turai, would fight to maintain their influence over Africa's most populous nation and seek to undermine Jonathan.

The country had been plunged into a near constitutional crisis, with protests held in the capital demanding Yar'Adua's resignation while he was away for treatment.

Jonathan sacked his entire cabinet in March only a month after parliament empowered him to run the country.

The senate on Wednesday confirmed 38 new ministers proposed by Jonathan for his new cabinet.

Jonathan, from the southern Niger Delta, is unlikely to run in elections in April next year because of an unwritten agreement that power rotates between the north and south.

Yar'Adua is a Muslim from the north and his predecessor, Olusegun Obasanjo, was a Christian from the south.

A power struggle could paralyse the Nigerian government and threaten an amnesty programme in the oil-producing Niger Delta, jeopardising reforms in sectors from banking to oil and gas.