Sudan top court to probe poll complaints

Khartoum: The Constitutional Court here agreed on Tuesday to investigate a petition by Sudanese lawyers for the dissolution of the body organising the referendum on a southern secession, which could derail the January 9 vote, state media said.

Most believe the oil-producing south will secede in the vote, which was built into the 2005 north-south peace deal that ended Africa's longest civil war.

The National Congress Party, ruling the north, which wants unity, has accused the south of manipulating the voter registration which ended on December 8.

"The Constitutional Court provisionally accepted a petition against the referendum commission," the Sudanese Media Centre said. "Now it will look into the demands of the group of lawyers and ask the commission to react before making a final ruling."

The head of the south Sudan referendum commission, Mohammad Ebrahim Khalil, said he knew of six legal petitions against the process.