- The ousted Sudanese Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi has announced plans to contest the presidential seat in the upcoming election. Mr Mahdi who was ousted in a coup in 1989, was elected in Sudan's last multi-party vote in 1986.
Mr Mahdi said the April polls to be held after 24 years, show's Sudanese commitment to democracy and rule of law. The polls are part of a 2005 peace deal that ended a two-decade civil war between north and south Sudan.
Mr Mahdi who will compete against President Omar al Bashir who was issued international arrest warrant for crimes committed in war-torn Darfur, has vowed to redress some of the challenges facing theb Arab governemnt in Khatoum.
Mr Bashir, who is widely expected to win the election, is wanted on an international arrest warrant for war crimes in Darfur. However, his government has denied the accusations that it is backing the militias who have carried out mass murder in Darfur.
The Darfur conflict has killed more than 300, 000 people and forced over 2 million people from their homes.
The mostly Muslim north and largely Christian south signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement on January 2005 to end a 22-year civil war that was fuelled by religious, political and economic differences and has cost at least two million lives.
The Sudanese parliament ratified a key law in December setting up the planned 2011 referendum on southern independence after northern and southern leaders overcame a dispute that had threatened to derail the peace deal.
Parliament also passed a law for a referendum in the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei on the border between north and south Sudan to let residents decide if they want to remain part of the north or join the south.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
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