Sudan's Al Bashir
Takes Campaign To War-scarred State
Sudan's
President, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir has taken his election campaign
to one of the areas worst hit by twenty-two years of civil war.
Launching a big power project at the rally, President Al Bashir,
said his government has delivered real development, and not just
promises made during elections.
Addressing thousands of cheering supporters as he campaigned for
Sudan's first democratic polls in twenty-four years in Kadugli,
capital of South Kordofan state, the President said he hoped to
legitimise his government by winning next month's elections and
defying an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest
for war crimes in the troubled western Darfur region.
The Campaign
On the campaign trail, Bashir is making more than thirty-one
visits to Sudan's regions in fifty-four days, exhausting his big
team of protocol and security staff and dwarfing similar efforts
by opposition parties.
The Power Plant
South Kordofan's governor, Ahmed Haroun, also wanted by the
International Criminal Court for war crimes in the separate
Darfur rebellion, said the six hundred and eighty million
dollars electricity plant and two hundred and seventy million
dollars supply network would begin to produce power in stages.
Haroun said in eighteen months it would be half capacity and in
thirty-six months full capacity.
Opposition
Opposition parties complain that the President’s party is using
government funds and resources in campaigning, which it denies.
It also accused the Electoral Commission of corruption and bias
towards Bashir's NCP, which the commission denies.
Many said the best solution for South Kordofan and Sudan was
continued partnership between the former foes, whose parties now
officially share power in the Khartoum government.
REUTERS/Williams
