Several of the biggest opposition parties in Sudan, Africa's largest state, allege widespread irregularities and said they will boycott the poll, the country's first multi-party vote since 1986.

The ruling National Congress Party of President Omar Bashir says the election will go ahead. But the withdrawal of the opposition figures pretty much shatters its legitimacy and a move toward democracy in a country that remains a police state.

If the boycott is genuine, and not just a pre-election maneuver by the opposition, it will leave the field clear for the incumbent, Bashir, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2009 for crimes against humanity in wartorn Darfur.

The fear that political divisions will lead to a return to the civil war have heightened with widespread allegations by international observers that Bashir's government manipulated a 2008 census, gerrymandered electoral districts and bribed tribal chiefs to back Khartoum.

Sudan was ravaged for 22 years of all-out war between the mainly Christian and animist south and the Arab Muslim north, led by Bashir, until a 2005 U.S.-backed peace agreement ended hostilities.

An estimated 2 million people perished in the fighting and the associated famines that plagued the land. Another 4 million people were displaced.

The International Crisis Group, a conflict resolution organization with headquarters in Brussels, declared bluntly Tuesday that the government was rigging the election nationwide but particularly in the conflict-torn Darfur region in the west where Khartoum has been fighting ethnic rebels since 2003.

Bashir has been accused of orchestrating atrocities in Darfur, where up to 300,000 people have perished and another 2.7 million have been driven from their homes.

"The Khartoum government is rigging the … elections in Darfur to return an indicted an indicted president to power with catastrophic consequences for Sudan,' the ICG said.

"It has done this everywhere in Sudan, but most dramatically in Darfur, where it has greater freedom because of the ongoing conflict. Winning big in Darfur is central to the NCP's plan to capture enough votes in the north to ensure its continued national dominance."

The withdrawal of Yasir Arman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement from the presidential race removed Bashir's strongest opponent.

But the overriding objective of the SPLM, made up largely of former southern rebels, is to build up momentum for a referendum on independence for the south that is scheduled for next January, part of the 2005 peace deal.

The south contains most of Sudan's oil, which would presumably make a southern state economically viable.

But the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime also depends on oil revenue and has shown that it is prepared to go to great lengths to ensure the oilfields remain in its hands.

With the electoral breakthrough collapsing rapidly, there seems little that can be done to defuse the smoldering hostility between the two sides.

There has been widespread violence, particularly in the south, in recent months as Khartoum deployed troops in some of the oil fields in an apparent bid to ensure they don't fall into SPLM hands.

Thousands of people are reported to have been killed in ethnic clashes that international observers are convinced have been engineered by the north.

Both sides have been re-arming in preparation for renewed hostilities, with arms reportedly pouring across the borders with Zaire, Ugandan and Ethiopia.

Bashir wants the elections to legitimize his rule, which began in 1989, when, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, he led a military coup that toppled the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.

Bashir also needs to hold onto power to head off being hauled before the ICC in The Hague to answer its charges of committing war crimes in Darfur.

Human rights organizations and international observers have called for delaying the elections until the alleged irregularities can be addressed.

But Bashir wants none of that. On March 22, he warned: "Any foreigner or organization that demands the delay of elections will be expelled sooner rather than later.

"We want them to observe the elections, but if they interfere in our affairs … we will cut off their fingers and put them under our heels and expel them."

earlier related report
Senegal takes back French military bases in symbolic move
Dakar (AFP) April 4, 2010 - Senegal marked 50 years of independence Sunday by asserting its sovereignty with an announcement it was taking back French military bases, a symbolic move to be cemented after talks with its former colonial ruler.

A colourful two-hour parade in Dakar on Sunday included a French contingent marching behind an officer bearing France's flag to the rhythms of the Royal Armed Forces of Morocco brass band.

Several other countries, including Senegal's neighbours, joined in the parade which included a horse riders and drum majorettes in the presence of several African heads of state and French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux.

The announcement by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade that his country was "taking back" French military bases in an address to the nation Saturday night, was welcomed by locals.

"I want the French soldiers to leave. Otherwise it is as if Senegal doesn't have its own army to insure its security," said 30-year-old builder Ousmane Fall who was part of the crowd enjoying the independence festivities.

Ass Mbow, a security guard, agreed: "Now that we are independent, they must leave. If they stay (in Senegal) it is as if we are still colonised," he told AFP.

The historic step announced by Wade has no marked effect in the short term, but is very symbolic for a country branded by 350 years of French presence.

The first French colony south of the Sahara, Senegal hosts one of three permanent French military bases in Africa with 1,200 men based in Dakar. The other permanent bases are in Libreville and Djibouti.

Wade's announcement followed shortly after the inauguration of a controversial monument to the African Renaissance, vaunted as a symbol of the emergence of a continent with some one billion inhabitants after five centuries of slavery and colonisation.

The 84-year-old said that keeping the military bases in Senegal -- one of the rare countries on the continent that has never experienced a coup d'etat -- "appeared more and more incongruous and has often been felt by our populations... as an incomplete independence."

"I solemnly declare that from 00H00 (GMT) April 4 Senegal will take back all the (military) bases formerly held by France and intends to exert its sovereignty," Wade said in an address to the nation on public television.

However several French sources say there is no question of sovereignty as the land has remained Senegalese and was only put at the disposition of the French.

Wade's announcement has left several questions about what will happen now.

"Discussions are continuing," French defence ministry spokesman Laurent Teisseire told AFP.

In February the two capitals announced their intention to eventually close the bases. Paris said it intended to preserve a "centre of military cooperation with a regional purpose."

No withdrawal timeline has been officially communicated, but gradually troops leaving Dakar on normal rotations will not be replaced.

President Nicolas Sarkozy, who did not attend the independence celebrations, has indicated that only 300 soldiers will remain, 900 fewer than there are today.

In a letter to Senegal on Friday Sarkozy reiterated that France remained "naturally disposed to continue a policy of military, bilateral and regional co-operation in Senegal, in support of regional stability.

France and Senegal have been bound by a defence agreement since 1974. It is the only European country with military bases in Africa.

Retired civil administrator Abdoulaye Diouf voiced concern about the loss of jobs held by Senegalese at the bases saying: "The two governments must consider this social question."

"If it was up to me, they would stay. We have always lived in harmony."

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