Kiir to run for Sudan president
Posted by African Press International on July 29, 2008
KHARTOUM, Sunday – Sudan’s former southern rebels said today their leader would run for the presidency in elections due next year under a landmark 2005 peace deal which ended Africa’s longest civil war.
Sudan’s north-south civil war ended with an accord that shared power and wealth, created a semi-autonomous south Sudan, and envisaged democratic elections and a southern vote on secession by 2011.
The southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) joined the national government and its head, Salva Kiir, became first vice president.
“The SPLM has officially decided to contest the elections on all levels including the president’s position,” senior SPLM official Yasir Arman told Reuters after an SPLM leadership meeting lasting several days.
He said Mr Kiir would be nominated for the presidency.
The SPLM has registered tens of thousands of members in northern Sudan but some in the north say Kiir does not spend enough time in Khartoum. (Reuters)
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API/Nation.ke.reuters
