Omar al-Bashir

Al-Turabi arrested, again

The power struggle between Hassan al-Turabi, the Sudanese opposition politician, and his former ally Omar al-Bashir, the country's president, shows no signs of ending.

If anything, it could well be intensifying, judging by the late-night arrest on Saturday of al-Turabi.

He has been in and out of custody during his political career - one marked by remarkable shifts in allegiances.

In the last few years, while in the opposition, al-Turabi has been imprisoned or held under house arrest on several occasions.

His relationship with al-Bashir was, of course, not always antagonistic.

Indeed, they were very close in the past: al-Turabi was one of al-Bashir's most trusted advisers when the latter seized power in 1989.

Al-Turabi was then the chairman of al-Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP).

But the two split over the introduction of a bill to limit the president's powers in 1999, a move which al-Bashir countered by dissolvi

Observing Sudan's elections

On the first day of the Sudanese elections, the streets of the capital Khartoum were calm and people were carrying on with business as usual.

Most Sudanese businesses were open and people were allowed to take some time off from work to vote.

The process was supposed to start from 0800am Mecca time. I arrived at a polling station in central Khartoum, where voting began more than an hour late.

But the delay did little to dim the fervour of several 60-year-old women, who were waiting eagerly for the voting process to start.

I asked some of them of how they felt. Khadija, 63, said that she was excited and this is her "right" as a Sudanese. I noticed that there were a lot of older women and soldiers who came early to cast their vote.

No young people

Bashir: Here, there and everywhere

With only a few days to go before the Sudanese head to the polls, the capital Khartoum is festooned with pictures of Omar al-Bashir, the incumbent president.

Although this is a multi-party election, the absence of campaign posters of other candidates is quite evident.

Quite ironically however, one would not have suspected the country was on the verge of a historic election had it not been for Bashir's campaign images; there is an eerie calm in Sudan.

There have been no election marches or protests, no mass demonstrations of support or opposition and no heavy police presence since I arrived here late on Saturday.

It was as if Khartoum had settled into an unnatural apathy.

I decided to gauge the feelings of the people.

The first person I bumped into was Jihad, a 25-year-old taxi driver.