Sudan and leading opposition party form alliance

South Sudan's ruling party signed an accord with a leading opposition party on Saturday, forming an alliance ahead of a general election next April.

The deal was witnessed by Salva Kiir, the president of south Sudan and chairman of the south's ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), and Sadeq al-Mahdi, a former prime minister and the head of the northern-based Umma party  .

"We have come together as the two parties to contribute to help our country get out of the national crisis we are in," said SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum, speaking to reporters after a formal signing in the south Sudanese capital late Saturday.

"We are also putting together our efforts to ensure free and fair elections in our country, so that our people can choose their own government in a free and democratic process."

Political parties in Sudan are building alliances ahead of national elections to challenge the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) led by President Omar al Beshir.

Kiir, who is also the First Vice President of all Sudan, shook Mahdi's hand and then embraced him.

Mahdi won Sudan's last general election in April 1986, and his government was overthrown in the 1989 coup that brought Beshir to power.

Mahdi has said he would respect south Sudan's decision if it opts for independence in a referendum on its potential full independence due in 2011.

"We are working together to ensure the exercise of the right of self determination for the people of southern Sudan," Amum said, adding he would work with Mahdi to make "the choice of unity attractive in the referendum.

"But (we will) also prepare ourselves in the event that the people of southern Sudan choose separation, then we will work to establish two friendly and sisterly countries," he said.

The deal was signed by the south's vice president Riek Machar, who is also the SPLM's deputy chairman, and Nassereddin El Hadi Al Mahdi, the Umma party's deputy chairman.

North and south Sudan fought a devastating decades-long civil war in which more than 1.5 million died, which ended with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Under the deal, the south has a six-year transitional period of regional autonomy and is part of a unity government until a 2011 referendum on full independence.

Tensions remain high between the north and south, which are still divided by the religious, ethnic and ideological differences over which the war was fought.

Many in the south appear determined to secede, but fear that the Khartoum government will try to block the oil-rich south from splitting Africa's largest country in two.

The deal on Saturday follows an accord the Umma party signed in July with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Darfur's most active rebel group.

JEM and Umma both say they want to see peace across Sudan, including in the troubled western region of Darfur, before next year's elections.

Source: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2009/September/middleeast_September120.xml§ion=middleeast&col=