Q+A: Sudan’s north-south referendum negotiations

July 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Northern and southern Sudanese leaders began negotiations on Saturday on issues including how to share oil revenues after a January 2011 referendum on southern independence.

Here are some questions and answers on the talks, which are expected to last six months.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

The referendum was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa’s longest civil war — a decades-long conflict between north and south Sudan in which an estimated 2 million people were killed and 4 million forced to flee their homes.

The accord gave southerners the right to decide whether to stay in Sudan or declare independence.

Analysts have warned there is a risk of a return to war unless the two sides resolve many contentious issues before the vote.

A southern vote for secession and the creation of a new country could fuel separatist dreams in other African states.

WHAT ARE THE NEGOTIATIONS ABOUT?

The two sides will produce plans for two scenarios — a vote for unity and a vote for separation.

If, as many analysts expect, separation is the outcome, the negotiators will have to package it in a way that is acceptable to both parties. If either side feels like losers, the opportunities for conflict will increase.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN TOPICS?

North Sudan’s dominant National Congress Party (NCP) and the south’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) have agreed to cover four main areas:

FINANCIAL, ECONOMIC AND NATURAL RESOURCES

The most intense negotiations will focus on the division of Sudan’s natural assets and massive debts.

Most of Sudan’s oil — about 78 percent according to the Economist Intelligence Unit — is produced in the south, which would have to share the oil revenue with the north after a split. At present, the only way for the south to get its oil to market is through northern pipelines to Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

Persistent distrust between the civil war foes means they will have to find a clear way of reporting those revenues so that neither feels short-changed, campaign group Global Witness said in a report this week.

The south will also have to negotiate its share of the White Nile water that flows through its territory at a time of growing tension between Nile-side countries over water supplies.

NATIONALITY

There are up to 2 million southerners living in north Sudan as refugees or long-term migrants, and a smaller number of northerners living in the south. The campaign group Refugees International says many of these will be left stateless and vulnerable if the country splits. The talks will cover their nationality as well as property and investment rights. Negotiators will also tackle the nationality of nomadic groups who move their livestock over the border.

SECURITY

Talks will focus on the status of thousands of northern and southern soldiers serving together in the Joint Integrated Units set up under the 2005 accord, many of them in contentious border areas. Northern and southern leaders are at loggerheads over the position of their shared border. Given the lack of progress over the past five years, southerners may have to vote for independence without a clear idea of where their new territory starts and ends. The two sides will have to agree on ways of resolving conflicts and policing the border.

INTERNATIONAL TREATIES AND LEGAL ISSUES

The two sides will list the international organizations and treaties that Sudan has joined over the years and work out how far they would cover an independent south.

(Reporting by Andrew Heavens, editing by Tim Pearce)

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Sudan may ask U.N. to run key vote – party official

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Sudan may ask the United Nations to run a referendum on the future of a politically sensitive border region after northern and southern leaders failed to appoint organizers, a party official said on Sunday.

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The residents of Abyei are less than seven months away from a vote on whether their border territory, close to key oilfields, should be part of north or south Sudan.

The vote has regional significance because, on the same day, the people of south Sudan have been promised a ballot on whether to separate from the north to become an independent state.

Yasir Arman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the dominant party in the south, said northern and southern leaders had failed to agree on who should join a commission to organize the Abyei vote despite months of debate.

“So far we have failed … If it becomes clear that we cannot agree then the only way out is the United Nations,” he told Reuters.

“The problems are the names. The National Congress cannot agree. We have been giving them the names, names from the civil service and lawyers, and hopefully we can still agree.”

If Abyei residents decide to join the south they could, at a stroke, become part of Africa’s newest country, taking their oil reserves and rich grazing land out of Khartoum’s control.

Political analysts have said time is running out to organize the votes and there is a risk of violence if southerners believe the north is trying to delay or disrupt the plebiscites.

Arman, the SPLM candidate in a presidential election held in April, said his party would submit a fresh set of names in a final attempt to reach agreement.

An official from the north’s National Congress Party (NCP) said Arman was trying to increase political pressure.

“I am sure we can still bridge the gap between the NCP and the SPLM on this. We have had differences before which we have settled,” said the NCP’s Rabie Abdelati.

No one was available to comment from the United Nations.

The votes, due in January 2011, are ensured as part of a 2005 accord that ended more than two decades of north-south war.

Abyei is occupied by two main groups, the Dinka Ngok, linked to south Sudan’s Dinka people, and nomadic Misseriya Arabs, associated with the north. Northern and southern forces have clashed there since the peace deal.

Arman said the NCP and SPLM were due to discuss Abyei and other issues related to the referendum in Mekele, the capital of Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray, this week.

Outstanding issues included the position of the north-south border, the nationality of southerners in the north and vice-versa, and the sharing of debts and oil revenues if the south, as widely expected, chooses to secede.

(Reporting by Andrew Heavens; editing by Andrew Dobbie)

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Sudan may ask UN to run key vote -party official

June 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KHARTOUM, June 20 (Reuters) – Sudan may ask the United Nations to run a referendum on the future of a politically sensitive border region after northern and southern leaders failed to appoint organisers, a party official said on Sunday.

The residents of Abyei are less than seven months away from a vote on whether their border territory, close to key oilfields, should be part of north or south Sudan.

The vote has regional significance because, on the same day, the people of south Sudan have been promised a ballot on whether to separate from the north to become an independent state.

Yasir Arman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the dominant party in the south, said northern and southern leaders had failed to agree on who should join a commission to organise the Abyei vote despite months of debate.

“So far we have failed … If it becomes clear that we cannot agree then the only way out is the United Nations,” he told Reuters.

“The problems are the names. The National Congress cannot agree. We have been giving them the names, names from the civil service and lawyers, and hopefully we can still agree.”

If Abyei residents decide to join the south they could, at a stroke, become part of Africa’s newest country, taking their oil reserves and rich grazing land out of Khartoum’s control.

Political analysts have said time is running out to organise the votes and there is a risk of violence if southerners believe the north is trying to delay or disrupt the plebiscites.

Arman, the SPLM candidate in a presidential election held in April, said his party would submit a fresh set of names in a final attempt to reach agreement.

An official from the north’s National Congress Party (NCP) said Arman was trying to increase political pressure.

“I am sure we can still bridge the gap between the NCP and the SPLM on this. We have had differences before which we have settled,” said the NCP’s Rabie Abdelati.

No one was available to comment from the United Nations.

The votes, due in January 2011, are ensured as part of a 2005 accord that ended more than two decades of north-south war.

Abyei is occupied by two main groups, the Dinka Ngok, linked to south Sudan’s Dinka people, and nomadic Misseriya Arabs, associated with the north. Northern and southern forces have clashed there since the peace deal.

Arman said the NCP and SPLM were due to discuss Abyei and other issues related to the referendum in Mekele, the capital of Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray, this week.

Outstanding issues included the position of the north-south border, the nationality of southerners in the north and vice-versa, and the sharing of debts and oil revenues if the south, as widely expected, chooses to secede. (Reporting by Andrew Heavens; editing by Andrew Dobbie)

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Sudan charges opposition journalist with terrorism

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Sudan has charged a detained opposition journalist with terrorism and espionage and he has been tortured in custody, his lawyers said on Tuesday.

U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch condemned the arrest earlier this month of opposition Islamist Hassan al-Turabi and four staff of his al-Rai al-Shaab paper, mouthpiece of Turabi’s Popular Congress Party (PCP).

The rights group urged Khartoum to end repression of opposition politicians and press launched after an April election returned President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP) to power.

PCP lawyer Mohamed al-Alim said the deputy editor in chief of the paper, Abu Zur al-Amin, had been charged with terrorism, espionage and destabilising the constitutional system.

Al-Alim said the other three newspaper staff had not been charged so far and Turabi “has not even been questioned”.

The government has accused Turabi of directing rebel attacks in the strife-ridden Darfur region.

Al-Alim said al-Amin had been tortured in jail. The PCP sent Reuters a picture of al-Amin’s back, with a large bruise which his brother said was the result of security forces beating him. Al-Amin remains isolated in police custody.

A security source denied any torture had occurred. “This absolutely does not happen,” the source said.

WORKERS FOR U.S. CHARITY FREED

“The National Congress Party is trying to silence political opponents, the media, and activists to stifle criticism and dissent and consolidate control,” said Rona Peligal, acting Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

“This repression sends a clear message that, instead of strengthening democracy, the April multi-party elections merely emboldened the party in its abuse.”

Sudan also reimposed censorship on two papers last week.

Much of the northern opposition boycotted the April elections, undermining their credibility.

Those who participated rejected the results and accused the NCP of rigging the vote. International observers said the vote did not meet international standards and expressed concern at intimidation, especially in the south.

Bashir is the only sitting head of state wanted for war crimes — in Darfur — by the International Criminal Court, but he rejects its authority.

On Tuesday, two Sudanese aid workers for the U.S. Christian charity Samaritan’s Purse were released in Darfur after being kidnapped with their American colleague a week ago.

The American woman from California was still being held but was in good health, a source close to the kidnappers said.

“I saw her and she looked fine,” the source, who declined to be named, told Reuters from South Darfur state.

Kidnappings of foreign nationals in Darfur, mostly by young armed men demanding ransoms, began last year after Bashir’s ICC arrest warrant was issued. The abductions have severely restricted the movement of aid agencies in the region.

(Reporting by Opheera McDoom; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Clashes in Sudan kill 58, raise tension on border

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Clashes between south Sudan’s army and Darfuri Arab tribes killed 58 people, raising tension along the border with the north of the country as results of the first open elections in 24 years are released, officials said on Sunday.

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Sudan’s oil-producing south was allowed to keep a separate army and form a semi-autonomous government in a 2005 peace deal ending more than two decades of civil war with the north.

Southerners will vote in a referendum on January 9, 2011 on independence.

“There was movement from the Rizeigat (tribe) and from the SPLA (the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army). I can’t tell you who attacked who first but they clashed,” Rizeigat Arab tribal leader Mohamed Eissa Aliu told Reuters from South Darfur.

“It happened Friday and those killed from the Rizeigat were 58 and 85 injured,” he said, adding the attack was in Balballa, South Darfur, which borders Western Bahr al-Ghazal in the south.

The SPLA said they were attacked by the northern army (SAF) in Raja, a remote part of Western Bahr al-Ghazal state, near where at least 5 officials from the dominant northern National Congress Party (NCP) and four others were killed by an SPLA soldier during five days of voting which began on April 11.

“Our company came under attack from the SAF forces yesterday afternoon,” SPLA spokesman Malaak Ayuen said late Saturday. “The SAF was using four land cruisers with mounted machine guns.” He could not give further details.

A SAF spokesman denied any involvement but confirmed the SPLA attack on the Rizeigat in Darfur, calling it “a clear violation of the (peace deal).”

The north-south border there is one of many disputed areas yet to be demarcated.

Sunday, the SPLA said it had been attacked for a second time in Raja and had been forced to retreat.

“They reinforced themselves and launched another attack and occupied the place,” Ayuen said Sunday.

Of the around 100 SPLA troops in the area, 47 had reported back with the others likely still in the bush, he said.

Results of the elections, marred by boycotts in the north and opposition accusations of fraud, are slowly being announced after days of delays.

The NCP and the ex-southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) are expected to form a coalition government as both parties look set to maintain their respective dominance in the north and the south.

The international community is concerned that only 8 months before the 2011 plebiscite on independence, issues like the demarcation of the border, grazing rights of nomadic tribes and citizenship have not been agreed.

The north-south civil war, Africa’s longest, has raged on and off since 1955. It claimed 2 million lives mostly through hunger and disease and destabilized much of east Africa.

The south, which follows mostly Christianity or traditional religions, fought the mainly Muslim north over issues including oil, ethnicity and ideology.

(Additional reporting by Skye Wheeler in Juba; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Clashes in Sudan kill 58, raise tension on border

April 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KHARTOUM, April 25 (Reuters) – Clashes between south Sudan’s army and Darfuri Arab tribes killed 58 people, raising tension along the border with the north of the country as results of the first open elections in 24 years are released, officials said on Sunday.

Sudan’s oil-producing south was allowed to keep a separate army and form a semi-autonomous government in a 2005 peace deal ending more than two decades of civil war with the north.

Southerners will vote in a referendum on Jan. 9, 2011 on independence.

“There was movement from the Rizeigat (tribe) and from the SPLA (the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army). I can’t tell you who attacked who first but they clashed,” Rizeigat Arab tribal leader Mohamed Eissa Aliu told Reuters from South Darfur.

“It happened on Friday and those killed from the Rizeigat were 58 and 85 injured,” he said, adding the attack was in Balballa, South Darfur, which borders Western Bahr al-Ghazal in the south.

The SPLA said they were attacked by the northern army (SAF) in Raja, a remote part of Western Bahr al-Ghazal state, near where at least 5 officials from the dominant northern National Congress Party (NCP) and four others were killed by an SPLA soldier during five days of voting which began on April 11.

“Our company came under attack from the SAF forces yesterday afternoon,” SPLA spokesman Malaak Ayuen said late on Saturday. “The SAF was using four land cruisers with mounted machine guns.” He could not give further details.

A SAF spokesman denied any involvement but confirmed the SPLA attack on the Rizeigat in Darfur, calling it “a clear violation of the (peace deal).”

The north-south border there is one of many disputed areas yet to be demarcated.

On Sunday, the SPLA said it had been attacked for a second time in Raja and had been forced to retreat.

“They reinforced themselves and launched another attack and occupied the place,” Ayuen said on Sunday.

Of the around 100 SPLA troops in the area, 47 had reported back with the others likely still in the bush, he said.

Results of the elections, marred by boycotts in the north and opposition accusations of fraud, are slowly being announced after days of delays.

The NCP and the ex-southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) are expected to form a coalition government as both parties look set to maintain their respective dominance in the north and the south.

The international community is concerned that only 8 months before the 2011 plebiscite on independence, issues like the demarcation of the border, grazing rights of nomadic tribes and citizenship have not been agreed.

The north-south civil war, Africa’s longest, has raged on and off since 1955. It claimed 2 million lives mostly through hunger and disease and destabilised much of east Africa.

The south, which follows mostly Christianity or traditional religions, fought the mainly Muslim north over issues including oil, ethnicity and ideology. (Additional reporting by Skye Wheeler in Juba; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Sudan opposition cries fraud at early results

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Sudan’s opposition said on Friday there had been widespread fraud in the country’s first open elections in 24 years and it would never accept results showing extensive victories by the ruling party.

Many opposition parties boycotted the presidential, legislative and gubernatorial elections before voting even began, accusing President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s party of trying to rig the votes, which aim to transform the oil producer into a democracy after decades of civil war.

But the few parties that participated in the complex elections said the preliminary reports of results from party agents observing the count were beyond belief. Results have not been officially announced.

“I was expecting there was going to be fraud but not to this extent,” said presidential candidate Abdelaziz Khaled.

“I’m amazed. This is chaos — this is not an election.”

The largest opposition party to enter the elections, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said it was getting reports of irregularities from all over Africa’s largest country.

“Everything is totally corrupt. We are fed up and we will never recognise these elections,” the DUP’s Salah al-Basha said.

Prior to the vote, he said the party was sure to win the governorships of at least six states. On Friday he said it looked to have won none.

No one was available to comment officially from Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party, but one member told Reuters the opposition were trying to cover up their loss. “All losing parties say this,” he said, but declined to be named.

CREDIBILITY

Bashir had hoped a victory would legitimise his government in defiance of an International Criminal Court warrant for his arrest for war crimes in Darfur. But the withdrawal of his two main contenders tainted the vote’s credibility.

The National Elections Commission has so far only announced the results of 27 local and national parliamentary seats won by default as there was only one contender.

Official results will begin to emerge over the coming days as counts in the more than 10,000 voting centres are collated and sent to Khartoum to be announced.

Despite decades of civil war and a heavily armed population the five-day voting period witnessed no major armed violence, a step forward for the country and a key test ahead of a referendum next year on independence for south Sudan.

Sudanese monitors in the southern capital Juba also accused South Sudan President Salva Kiir’s dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) of blocking a fair poll. Kiir is expected to win the presidential election for the semi-autonomous south.

“(There is) a troubling trend in Juba of observers being obstructed from carrying out their right to observe the electoral process,” the monitors said in a statement.

International observers will issue reports on the voting this week. Sudanese opposition and civil society accused the international community of ignoring widespread irregularities.

“The technocrats of the international community … have chosen to turn a blind eye to all acts of corruption and the poor technical ability of the elections commission,” activist Hala al-Karib wrote on Friday on the Sudan Tribune website.

The opposition groups boycotting the elections say they will hold peaceful protests after the polls. However, many political analysts fear a newly elected NCP, freshly legitimised by the polls, may clamp down on political freedoms after the results.

“At some time, this right (to demonstrate) has to be granted fully to the people,” said senior NCP official Ghazi Salaheddin. “Not these days — the possibility of flare-up, clashes between demonstrators has to be borne in mind.”

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Sudan ruling party offers opposition govt posts

April 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KHARTOUM, April 14 (Reuters) – Sudan’s ruling party, in an apparent bid to heal a rift over accusations of vote fraud, said on Wednesday it would invite opposition groups to join the government if it won elections currently in progress.

Sudan is four days into presidential and legislative polls aimed at helping to bring the oil-producing state back to democracy more than two decades after a military-led coup.

The poll’s credibility was cast in doubt after some main opposition parties decided to boycott large parts of the poll, accusing incumbent president Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his northern National Congress Party (NCP) of widespread rigging.

“If we are declared winners in the elections … we would extend the invitation to all parties, even those who have not participated in the elections, to join the government because we believe this is a critical moment in our history,” senior NCP official Ghazi Salaheddin told reporters.

“We are facing important decisions like self-determination in the south and would like to garner as much support and as much consensus as we can.”

The elections were set up under a 2005 peace accord that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war and also promised a referendum on whether the south should secede in January 2011.

The decision by south Sudan’s dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) to boycott the vote and most polls in northern Sudan had raised fears of unrest in the build up to next year’s referendum.

No one from the SPLM or other boycotting groups, including the opposition Umma party, was immediately available to comment on Salaheddin’s offer.

(Reporting by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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Sudan ruling party offers opposition govt posts

April 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KHARTOUM, April 14 (Reuters) – Sudan’s ruling party on Wednesday said it would invite opposition groups to join the government if it won the country’s general elections, in an apparent bid to heal a rift over accusations of vote fraud.

“If we are declared winners in the elections … we would extend the invitation to all parties, even those who have not participated in the elections, to join the government because we believe this is a critical moment in our history,” senior NCP official Ghazi Salaheddin told reporters.

Sudan is four days into presidential and legislative elections designed to usher the oil-producer to democracy more than two decades after a military-led coup.

The credibility of the poll took a hit after some leading parties decided to boycott large parts of the poll, accusing incumbent President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his northern National Congress Party (NCP) of widespread rigging. (Reporting by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Chaos reigns as Sudan begins complex election

April 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

KHARTOUM, April 11 (Reuters) – With lines of voters hunkered down for hours on makeshift benches or sheltering under trees from the baking sun, Sudan’s complex and controversial elections got off to an often chaotic start.

Officials had spent months preparing for the polls, but confusion soon erupted on Sunday as centre after centre, sometimes hours into the voting, discovered that voters were using the wrong ballot papers or that names or symbols of candidates were either missing or incorrect.

Given that votes are being cast for two presidents, 24 governors and 26 state and national assemblies, using three different voting systems and up to 12 ballots, things were bound to go awry.

Many opposition parties boycotted the elections, citing widespread fraud before the voting even began.

The National Elections Commission had insisted it was ready, despite demands from the opposition for a short delay to ensure the process ran smoothly. Mokhtar al-Asam, a top official, said on the eve of voting that the electoral system was “foolproof”.

It was a novel experience for many voters, and for election officials.

Some were too nervous to ask voters to dip their fingers fully into indelible green ink — used to show that people had cast their votes — and had to be reminded of the rules.

Quite which ballot papers to use also posed a problem for some election officials.

‘RUNNING OUT OF BALLOTS’

“We’re running out of ballots,” one shouted down the phone, urging Sudanese observers not to worry — until he discovered the parliamentary ballots he had been using for the past four hours were from a different constituency and voting was halted.

That centre was brimming with policemen, who had waited for almost four hours to vote. Their presence worried some of the monitors. Other centres had line after line of soldiers pushing to get in the door.

“There’s only one national party in this country – the National Congress Party,” one of a group of soldiers, sitting in the army lorry which had brought them to vote, said in reference to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s party.

Bashir is widely expected to win another term and his party is accused of rigging the vote and intimidating competitors.

One of the opposition complaints was that election officials had allowed all of Sudan’s numerous security forces to register to vote at their barracks.

Many felt their heavy presence in these areas could tip votes towards the ruling party because voters felt intimidated.

Voting booths were made of cardboard and many were already looking ragged on the first of three days of polls.

Ill-trained local monitors watched carefully but few noticed basic errors such as the use of incorrect ballots.

Voting was a difficult task even for those with a seasoned political eye — it took Bashir 10 minutes to cast votes on his eight ballots.

The confused scenes in some stations in Khartoum prompted many to wonder what was happening in the more remote parts of Africa’s largest country, where illiteracy rates are high and decades of civil war have devastated infrastructure.

Despite the problems, many Sudanese insisted on voting. After a quarter-century without free elections, they saw the event alone as historic, despite the boycotts and complaints.

“Even if this is 50 percent right it’s better than nothing,” said voter el-Fatih Khidr.

(Editing by Missy Ryan and Giles Elgood)

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South Sudan president accuses north of oil grab

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir said Khartoum was delaying demarcating the north-south border to try to retain control over oil reserves with Sudan’s elections just days away.

Analysts say a failure to resolve the border issue between the former north-south foes could spark renewed conflict if the problem is not sorted before Africa’s largest country holds a January 2011 referendum on independence for the south.

On Tuesday Kiir’s ex-rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said it would boycott Sudan’s April 11 national elections accusing Khartoum of widespread fraud.

“Why it is not demarcated is because there is oil and the north wants to take the oil, they want also to take the agricultural land we have so it becomes their land,” Kiir told voters at a rally in the southern Lakes State.

Sudan’s potential 500,000 barrels per day of oil from wells mostly in the south inflamed a 22-year-long civil war between the SPLM and the northern National Congress Party which ended with a 2005 peace deal.

Under the accord south Sudan receives about 50 percent of government oil revenues from wells in the south but the opaque distribution of cash has been a source of much contention. Oil revenues accounts for an estimated 98 percent of semi-autonomous south Sudan’s budget. Many of the oil fields lie on the north-south border.

Analysts say the north-south border demarcation is key to successful talks between the two sides on post-referendum wealth sharing of oil and water from the River Nile.

Hundreds of supporters greeted Kiir on the campaign trail for the south Sudanese presidency, waving banners and kicking up dust in celebratory dances in the small Yirol town, which has few permanent buildings like much of the south devastated by the war. Several white bulls were slaughtered in his honour.

The SPLM said it would boycott all elections in the north on Tuesday, except the central states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where it said it was sure to win, despite the widespread fraud they accuse the NCP of committing.

The move has sparked confusion among Sudan’s opposition. Some have also boycotted but others are continuing in the race, although they all agreed with the concerns over irregularities.

Kiir also accused Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al Bashir of refusing to form commissions to oversee the southern referendum and another vote for the citizens of the oil-rich Abyei area to choose whether to join the north or south.

“They don’t want the south to stand alone,” he said, speaking in his native Dinka, the language of the south’s largest tribe. “The intention is to take over the land so they will control everything.”

Lakes state is largely flat scrub land dotted with big palm trees but also has wetlands, valuable to the resident pastoralist tribes whose armed young men battle in deadly cattle raids through the dry season.

(Editing by Opheera McDoom and Matthew Jones)

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SCENARIOS: Sudan elections brinkmanship – what’s next?

April 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

South Sudan’s main party has announced a partial and unilateral boycott of April elections, withdrawing its presidential candidate and boycotting polls in Darfur, citing the conflict there and electoral fraud.

The move surprised and angered Sudan’s opposition, who said they had been promised the support of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) for a joint position on a possible boycott of the April 11 polls in the entire north of Sudan.

Some analysts have said with Yasir Arman out of the race, incumbent Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s return to the presidential palace is assured.

Here are some scenarios of what could happen next.

OPPOSITION MEETING

The opposition parties will meet on Thursday night. Some want a boycott but others want to challenge Bashir. Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP) will hope their divisions will stop them reaching a common position.

A mass withdrawal from the polls would deny Bashir the legitimacy he wants to help him defy an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

ENDORSEMENTS

The SPLM, who enjoy majority support in the south, which has 25 percent of Sudan’s electorate, have not endorsed another presidential candidate. Arman has said they will not do so because they want to expose fraud in the presidential elections.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which has mass support from the Islamic Khatmiyya sect, had been in talks with the NCP to endorse Bashir in exchange for key government positions but more recently joined the opposition ranks, mulling a boycott.

The NCP will watch closely whether the DUP decides to withdraw from the presidential poll, stay in the race or endorse Bashir.

The other large northern sectarian party, the Umma Party, may be reluctant to withdraw its presidential candidate. Umma party chief Sadeq al-Mahdi was the last democratically elected leader of Sudan and has been considered one of the three favourites in the presidential election.

He may believe his chances are good of beating Bashir with Arman out of the picture, and could push for the opposition to unite behind his candidacy.

However alleged electoral irregularities could push them to boycott, saying there is no way the polls can be free and fair and Bashir is already guaranteed a win.

INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS

The only long-term international observer mission, the Carter Center, and observers from the European Union will be following events closely.

While they are likely to continue their missions, they will be concerned that any endorsement they give the polls will lend credibility to the outcome.

REFERENDUM

Earlier this week Bashir, worried by the threat of an SPLM-opposition alliance, issued a stark warning to the SPLM: if you refuse to take part in elections, the planned 2011 referendum in south Sudan on secession will not be held.

The SPLM’s announcement of a boycott of elections in Darfur implies it will continue to run in all other parts of Sudan, ending its earlier threat of a full boycott in the north in solidarity with opposition parties.

The referendum is a priority for the SPLM and the international community, concerned any move to derail the sensitive vote could reignite a north-south civil war which claimed 2 million lives and destabilised much of east Africa.

(Reporting by Opheera McDoom)

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U.S. envoy in crisis talks after Sudan election pullout

April 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – U.S. Sudan envoy Scott Gration began crisis talks with political leaders in Khartoum on Thursday after the withdrawal of a presidential candidate threatened to undermine the credibility of coming elections.

World

Yasir Arman, the candidate for the south’s dominant Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) pulled out of the race late Wednesday, less than two weeks before voting, citing concerns over election fraud and insecurity in Darfur.

Opposition parties were due to meet later Thursday to discuss whether to unite in boycotting the vote, a move that would seriously undermine what were supposed to be Sudan’s first multi-party elections in 24 years.

The presidential, parliamentary and gubernatorial elections are central to a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war between Sudan’s Muslim north and the South, where most follow Christianity or traditional beliefs.

As part of the 2005 peace accord, the SPLM joined incumbent president Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP) in a fragile national coalition government.

The SPLM also said it would boycott all voting in Darfur, the scene of a seven-year conflict, going back on an earlier threat to pull out of the whole vote in the north in solidarity with opposition parties.

Analysts said Arman’s withdrawal effectively handed the presidential race to Bashir and could be part of a deal with his northern NCP to guarantee a referendum on southern independence also promised under the peace deal.

NO DEAL WITH BASHIR

But Arman denied any deal, saying there was no point in participating in the April elections and that the NCP had already rigged them for Bashir to win. He urged the opposition to take the same stance as his SPLM party.

“I will encourage them (the opposition) not to give legitimacy to Bashir – to boycott the election especially in Darfur and the presidential election,” he told Reuters.

He added the SPLM may still consider a full boycott in the rest of the north if the opposition decided to do so.

If the opposition also decided to boycott the presidential vote, it would derail any claim by Bashir to have been elected in a fully democratic process.

But continued participation in the parliamentary vote could give them some say over the passage of laws or any constitutional changes if they won a fair percentage of the 450 seat national assembly.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Gration had flown to Khartoum in reaction to the SPLM move and was planning to shuttle between meetings with leading opposition and government figures.

Wednesday a joint statement by Washington, Britain and Norway said they were “deeply concerned by reports of continued administrative and logistical (electoral) challenges, as well as restrictions on political freedoms.”

But they said “irrespective of the outcome of elections,” it was essential the January 2011 referendum go ahead on time.

Sudan’s north-south civil war killed 2 million people and destabilized much of east Africa. Darfur’s separate conflict has claimed an estimated 300,000 lives in violence Washington has called genocide.

Last year the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Bashir for war crimes in Darfur. He hopes to defy the court and legitimize his rule with a win in April’s polls.

(Editing by Opheera McDoom and Elizabeth Fullerton)

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Shiv Sena-BJP alliance confident of victory in Maharashtra assembly polls

September 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Mumbai, Sep 19(ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena on Saturday expressed confidence about emerging victorious in the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.

“It is 45 years since Shiv Sena came into being. And this first day of Navaratri happens to be a red-letter day in the history of Shiv Sena that has crusaded for the cause of Samyukta (unified) Maharashtra. Considering all these aspects, I feel it is an auspicious timing (of) declaring the seat arrangement and we are confident of our combine emerging victorious,” said Uddhav Thackeray, Executive President of Shiv Sena party.

Leaders of both the parties confirmed that there was no bargaining for seats between the two allies.

“Today, is the first day of Dussera and we have arrived at the figures of seat sharing. Yes, it is 169 and 119. The 169 in favour of Shiv Sena and 119 for BJP and it will be interesting to note that both the figures end in 9, a lucky number; 169 and 119. And now onwards we will work on joint strategy. There is no clash of interests and now onwards we will devote to the selection of suitable candidates,” said Gopinath Munde, senior BJP leader.

In the 2004 elections, Shiv Sena had contested for 171 seats while BJP had contested for 117 and jointly they had bagged 119 seats in the legislative house of 289 members.

The alliance of Congress and regional National Congress Party (NCP) had emerged victorious in the 2004 polls. (ANI)

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Nooyi, Sonia Gandhi in Forbes top 15 most powerful women list

August 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New York, Aug.20 (ANI): Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, Chanda Kochhar, CEO of ICICI Bank India and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Chairman, Biocon India are the only Indians in Forbes annual list of the 100 most powerful women.

The list, which was released last night, includes fiery chief executives, brilliant politicians and beloved queens, but the model for all women who seek influence, is the cautious and uncharismatic German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Nooyi is listed as the third most powerful woman in the world, while Sonia Gandhi Kochhar and Shaw are ranked 13, 20 and 91 respectively. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed is the only other South Asian in the list and is ranked 78.

Americans make up 63 of the 100, while only four women from Britain make the grade

In assembling the list, Forbes looked for women who run countries, big companies or influential nonprofits. Their rankings are a combination of two scores:

Visibility-by press mentions-and the size of the organization or country these women lead.

The list is as follows:

1 Angela Merkel Chancellor Germany

2 Sheila Bair Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. U.S.

3 Indra Nooyi Chief executive, PepsiCo U.S.

4 Cynthia Carroll Chief executive, Anglo American U.K.

5 Ho Ching Chief executive, Temasek Singapore

6 Irene Rosenfeld Chief executive, Kraft Foods U.S.

7 Ellen Kullman Chief executive, DuPont U.S.

8 Angela Braly Chief executive, WellPoint U.S.

9 Anne Lauvergeon Chief executive, Areva France

10 Lynn Elsenhans Chief executive, Sunoco U.S.

11 Cristina Fernandez President Argentina

12 Carol Bartz Chief executive, Yahoo U.S.

13 Sonia Gandhi President, Indian National Congress Party India

14 Ursula Burns Chief executive, Xerox Corp. U.S.

15 Anne Mulcahy Chairman, Xerox Corp. U.S.

16 Safra Catz President, Oracle U.S.

17 Christine Lagarde Minister of Economy, Finance and Employment France

18 Gail Kelly Chief executive, Westpac Australia

19 Marjorie Scardino Chief executive, Pearson Plc. U.K.

20 Chanda Kochhar Chief executive, ICICI Bank India

21 Mary Sammons Chief executive, Rite Aid Corp. U.S.

22 Michelle Bachelet President Chile

23 Paula Reynolds Chief restructuring officer, AIG U.S.

24 Carol Meyrowitz Chief executive, TJX Companies U.S.

25 Andrea Jung Chief executive, Avon U.S.

26 Patricia Woertz Chief executive, Archer Daniels Midland U.S.

27 Guler Sabanci Chairman, Sabanci Holding Turkey

28 Barbara Desoer President, Bank of America Mortgage, Home Equity and Insurance U.S.

29 Brenda Barnes Chief executive, Sara Lee Corp. U.S.

30 Risa Lavizzo-Mourey Chief executive, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation U.S.

31 Ann Livermore Executive vice president, Hewlett-Packard U.S.

32 Cathie Lesjak Executive vice president, Hewlett-Packard U.S.

33 Marina Berlusconi Chairman, Fininvest Group Italy

34 Melinda Gates Co-chairman, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation U.S.

35 Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House, House of Representatives U.S.

36 Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State U.S.

37 Jane Mendillo Chief executive, Harvard Management Co. U.S.

38 Margaret Chan Director-general, World Health Org. Switzerland

39 Susan Chambers Executive vice president, Global People Division, Wal-Mart Stores U.S.

40 Michelle Obama First Lady U.S.

41 Oprah Winfrey Chairman, Harpo U.S.

42 Queen Elizabeth II Queen U.K.

43 Nancy McKinstry Chief executive, Wolters Kluwer Netherlands

44 Gloria Arroyo President Philippines

45 Ana Patricia Botin Executive Chairman, Banesto Spain

46 Ann Veneman Executive Director, UNICEF U.S.

47 Yulia Tymoshenko Prime minister Ukraine

48 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Supreme Court Justice U.S.

49 Janet Robinson Chief executive, The New York Times Co. U.S.

50 Dominique Senequier Chief executive, AXA Private Equity France

51 Janet Napolitano Secretary of Homeland Security U.S.

52 Neelie Kroes Commissioner for Competition, European Union Belgium

53 Gail Boudreaux President, UnitedHealthcare U.S.

54 Sonia Sotomayor Supreme Court Justice U.S.

55 Mary Schapiro Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission U.S.

56 Kathleen Sebelius Secretary of Health and Human Services U.S.

57 Ellen Alemany Chief executive, RBS Americas and Citizens Financial Group U.S.

58 Susan Ivey Chief executive, Reynolds American U.S.

59 Amy Pascal Cochairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment U.S.

60 Helen Clark Chairman, United Nations Development Group New Zealand

61 Judy McGrath Chief executive, MTV Networks U.S.

62 Stacey Snider Chief executive, DreamWorks SKG U.S.

63 Navanethem Pillay High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations South Africa

64 Janet Clark Chief financial officer, Marathon Oil U.S.

65 Sherilyn McCoy Worldwide chairman, Pharmaceuticals Group, Johnson and Johnson U.S.

66 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf President Liberia

67 Tarja Halonen President Finland

68 Mary McAleese President Ireland

69 Virginia Rometty Senior vice president, IBM U.S.

70 Angela Ahrendts Chief executive, Burberry Group Plc. U.K.

71 Sri Indrawati Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance Indonesia

72 Terri Dial Chief executive, U.S. Consumer Bank, Citigroup U.S.

73 Deirdre Connelly President, North American Pharmaceuticals, GlaxoSmithkline U.S.

74 Johanna Sigurdardottir Prime minister Iceland

75 Queen Rania Queen Jordan

76 Christina Gold Chief executive, Western Union U.S.

77 Colleen Goggins Worldwide chairman, Johnson and Johnson U.S.

78 Hasina Wajed Prime minister Bangladesh

79 Hyun Jeong-eun Chairman, Hyundai Group South Korea

80 Amy Schulman Senior vice president, Pfizer U.S.

81 Penny Pritzker Chairman, Classic Residence by Hyatt U.S.

82 Drew Faust President, Harvard University U.S.

83 Melanie Healey Group president, Feminine and Health Care, Procter and Gamble U.S.

84 Elizabeth Smith President, Avon U.S.

85 Deb Henretta Group president, Asia, Procter and Gamble Singapore

86 Ann Moore Chief executive, Time Inc. U.S.

87 Sallie Krawcheck Chief executive global wealth management, Bank of America U.S.

88 Pamela Nicholson President, Enterprise Rent-A-Car U.S.

89 Janice Fields Chief operating officer, McDonald’s USA U.S.

90 Stephanie Burns Chief executive, Dow Corning U.S.

91 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Chairman, Biocon India

92 Eva Cheng Executive vice president, Amway Greater China and Southeast Asia Hong Kong

93 Efrat Peled Chief executive, Arison Investments Israel

94 Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi Minister of the Economy United Arab Emirates

95 Charlene Begley Chief executive, GE Enterprise Solutions U.S.

96 Mindy Grossman Chief executive, HSN, Inc. U.S.

97 Sharon Allen Chairman, Deloitte and Touche U.S.

98 Anne Sweeney Co-chairman, Disney Media Networks U.S.

99 Heidi Miller Chief executive Treasury and Securities Services, JPMorgan Chase U.S.

100 Mary Erdoes Chairman, JPMorgan Global Wealth Management U.S. (ANI)

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Padamsinh Patil – Padamsinh Patil Suspended – NCP suspends Padamsinh Patil

June 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, June 10: National Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday suspended its murder case accused MP Padamsinh Patil from its primary membership.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP was facing tremendous pressure from all around over its Patil’s alleged involvement in the double-murder case.

The Disciplinary Action Committee of the party met in the capital on Wednesday and decided to suspend the Lok Sabha member from Osamanabad in Maharashtra from the primary membership, said NCP leader Praful Patel in the national capital on Wednesday.

“We are not holding him guilty. But we would like to keep a distance as Patil faces the legal process. If he proves his innocence we will have no no problem in taking him back,” Patel said.

The party was only following a convention in public life that a person who is facing investigations in a criminal case should not be associated with the party, Patel added.

The suspension comes three days after the arrest of Patil by CBI in connection with the murder of Congress leader Pawanraj Nimbalkar and his driver three years ago.

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South African election winner Zuma calls for national unity

May 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Johannesburg – Jacob Zuma, the leader of South African’s African National Congress party and the country’s most-likely next president, called Saturday for national unity in a speech after his party was re-elected to a fourth five-year term. “This country belongs to everyone – blacks, whites, Indians and coloured: we must work together,” Zuma said in a speech shortly after the country’s Independent Electoral Commission announced final results of Wednesday’s elections.

The party leader also confirmed that he would seek to cooperate with all political parties, adding that the ANC stood behind its election campaign promises to root out inefficiency and corruption in government.

The 67-year-old Zulu politician also made reassurances that his party would not seek to change the constitution, a charge made by the opposition Democratic Alliance party, who feared Zuma might try to muzzle his critics through constitutional amendment. (dpa)

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Gandhi family scion arrested for hate speech given parole

April 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi – India’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of the grandson of the late prime minister Indira Gandhi on parole for two weeks to enable him to file his candidacy for general elections.

Varun Gandhi was arrested in late March in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh for allegedly making inflammatory anti-Muslim statements while campaigning for India’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The 29-year-old was booked under the National Security Act and was lodged in jail in Etah.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan ordered Gandhi’s release, pending a final decision on his lawsuit challenging his arrest by the state government.

The bench dismissed stiff opposition by the Uttar Pradesh government when ordering Gandhi’s temporary release but imposed strict conditions on the politician during his parole, such as not making speeches “likely to cause communal disturbance and hatred among any caste and community.”

The order would allow Gandhi to register as a candidate from the Pilibhit constituency in the state and launch his campaign.

The Indian National Congress party, which leads India’s federal coalition government and is headed by Sonia Gandhi, accused Varun Gandhi and the BJP of playing communal politics.

Varun Gandhi’s mother, Maneka Gandhi, was married to Indira Gandhi’s second son, Sanjay Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi, who was married to Indira’s elder son, Rajiv, is his aunt. The two branches of the family are members of rival political parties.

The Congress party and the BJP lead the two main alliances fighting the five-phased, month-long general elections in India, which began Thursday. (dpa)

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The race for India’s top job: contenders and key players

April 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi – Who will be India’s next prime minister? With general elections days away, analysts predicted yet another hung Parliament in which smaller parties could call the shots and anyone could be kingmaker and any kingmaker could be king.

There seems to be no clear majority in sight for any single party or for the two main coalitions – the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

In such a scenario, a leader with the backing of several political parties with a combined strength of 270 members in the 545-member Lok Sabha, or lower house of Parliament, could become the next prime minister.

The two main contenders are incumbent Manmohan Singh, 76, of the Indian National Congress party, which leads the UPA, and Lal Krishna Advani, 81, of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the NDA.

If Congress scores well in the elections, its chief, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, 62, would be a natural choice for the top job. She is the Congress party’s most popular face and, as UPA chairwoman, managed to keep the alliance together for five years.

But the widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi refused the premier’s post after the 2004 elections amid concerns about her foreign origin and has said she is not in the running in 2009. Critics said she is grooming her son Rahul, 39, as a future premier.

Sonia Gandhi’s stated choice for the current elections is Singh, an experienced economist and a competent bureaucrat. Singh’s biggest strength is his reputation for honesty and integrity. But he underwent heart-bypass surgery recently and is not in the pink of health.

Critics call mild-mannered Singh weak and Sonia Gandhi’s puppet. But Singh did push through a landmark civilian nuclear agreement with the United States in the face of strong opposition from leftist partners who withdrew support from the UPA and threatened to topple his government.

Singh’s main rival, Advani, is an experienced politician who has been India’s interior minister and deputy prime minister. He is seen as a tough administrator who has promised strong measures on internal security, a major issue in the elections in light of a spate of terrorist attacks over the past two years.

Advani is credited with a major role in the rise of the BJP as a political force in India, partly through his campaign to build a controversial temple to the Hindu god Ram in the northern town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh at the spot where the medieval Babri mosque once stood.

The mosque was pulled down by Hindu zealots in 1992, soon after Advani led a countrywide campaign on building the temple. The mosque’s destruction sparked widespread, deadly communal riots.

Advani has been trying to play down his Hindu hardline image, but his political allies who were more comfortable with the moderate figure of former BJP prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee are wary.

Another major player in the 2009 elections is Mayawati, 53, the three-term chief minister of the politically important state of Uttar Pradesh. Her Bahujan Samaj Party represents the aspirations of the Dalit community, the former “untouchables,” who form the lowest rung of India’s archaic caste system.

Dalits form a sizeable constituency but have otherwise had little say in politics and policies despite decades of affirmative action. For them, Mayawati is a symbol of hope and power.

Mayawati has recruited support from upper caste Brahmins and Muslims to broaden her base and has made her prime ministerial ambitions very clear. She is hoping a bloc of non-Congress, non-BJP parties would support her bid if she manages to win a majority of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Known as a pragmatist and performer but also authoritarian and criticized for amassing vast personal wealth, Mayawati might not find it easy to garner the support of other parties after the elections.

But even if she does not get the top job, Mayawati is hoping to be a kingmaker as are regional players like the Samajwadi Party’s Mulayam Singh, 70, also from Uttar Pradesh; Jayalalitha, 61, an actress turned politician from the southern state of Tamil Nadu; and Chandrababu Naidu, 59, of Andhra Pradesh in India’s south-east.

An alliance of four leftist parties is hoping it would return enough numbers to influence the choice of the country’s next government and leader.

Leaders of smaller parties that are part of the UPA and NDA have hinted that they would not be averse to breaking away from their current coalitions to join new ones if they are promised the top job.

Foremost among them is Sharad Pawar, a powerful politician from Maharashtra who is a minister in the UPA government and also chief of India’s wealthy cricket board. Pawar broke away from the Congress party when Sonia Gandhi became its leader in 1999 and formed the Nationalist Congress Party.

There is also the possibility of a dark horse emerging from post-poll coalitions: a prime minister who is chosen not because his or her party led in the elections but because he or she is the least controversial, ruffles fewer feathers and could be a consensus candidate of several parties.

In a recent precedent, Deve Gowda became prime minister in 1996 although his Janata Dal party had only 46 seats in the lower house. (dpa)

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Manmohan Singh, a second term as prime minister?

April 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi – Manmohan Singh became India’s first Sikh prime minister in 2004 when Indian National Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi stunned her supporters by refusing the post and nominated instead her most trusted lieutenant.

A former academic and bureaucrat, Singh, 76, headed a coalition government for five years and is the ruling United Progressive Alliance’s prime ministerial candidate in this year’s elections.

Widely recognized as the architect of India’s economic reforms as finance minister in the early 1990s, Singh now has another major achievement to his credit: a landmark civilian nuclear deal with the United States.

The deal has helped end three decades of nuclear isolation, allowing India to import much-needed fuel and know-how for its nuclear programme.

Singh said he believes India’s growing economy needs multiple sources of energy to maintain a rapid growth rate and that an “environment-friendly” source like nuclear energy has a key role to play.

Educated at Cambridge and Oxford universities in Britain, Singh is a highly qualified and experienced economist-technocrat.

He has headed India’s Planning Commission and its federal bank, was economic adviser to several prime ministers, was finance minister and has held important positions at international organizations like the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.

Born in a village in Punjab province in pre-partition India, Singh does not have a grassroots political base. He is not a crowd-puller and has never won a popular election. He did run once but lost. A member of the upper house of Parliament, or Rajya Sabha, since 1991, Singh is not a candidate in the current elections.

But Singh has the powerful Congress party president’s backing, although critics and opposition party leaders have often called the mild-mannered prime minister “weak” and a “puppet” with Gandhi pulling the strings.

On the foreign policy front, Singh has strengthened ties with the United States and continued the peace process with Pakistan although it has stumbled recently after the Mumbai terrorist attacks in November.

Singh’s continued economic reform programme has included streamlining taxation and schemes aimed at the development of rural India, where the bulk of the country’s people still live, many in strained circumstances.

Singh has waived loans taken by impoverished farmers and promoted one of the world’s largest employment-oriented social welfare schemes for rural people. He was instrumental, Congress insiders said, in introducing the right to food in the party’s 2009 election manifesto.

In a country where corruption seeps into all levels of government, Singh’s biggest asset is his image as a squeaky clean politician and a man of undoubted integrity.

Married to Gursharan Kaur, Singh has three daughters and none of them, so far, unlike the routine Indian politician’s family, have showed interest in politics.

A recent opinion poll showed Singh to be one of the top choices for prime minister along with Sonia Gandhi and Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani.

Singh favours consensual decision making and managed to run a government of often recalcitrant allies for most of five years although he lost the support of leftist parties when he insisted on the nuclear deal with the United States.

A major drawback in recent months has been Singh’s poor health. He underwent heart bypass surgery in late January, followed by a six-week convalescence, and is being used sparingly by the Congress party in its election campaign. (dpa)

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