Sudan 'will expel poll observers'

Khartoum, 23 March-(ANA)-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has threatened to kick out foreign election monitors, after they suggested next month's vote should be delayed.

Mr Bashir said if the observers intervened in Sudan's affairs, "we will cut off their fingers and crush them under our shoes".

The US-funded Carter Center recently suggested the 11 April election should be postponed amid security concerns.

The poll will be the first genuinely multi-party vote since 1986.

But opposition politicians have repeatedly suggested that the election should be put back amid chronic instability in the south and a continuing refugee crisis in the Darfur region.

The Carter Center, which runs the only long-term monitoring mission in the country, said last week that the poll was "at risk on multiple fronts".

"Logistical preparations are straining the limited capacity of the NEC [National Election Commission]," the centre said.(ANA)

FA/ANA/23 March 2010-----