Former president Nimeiri returns to Sudan

Sudanese police were out in force on Saturday as former president Jaafar al-Nimeiri landed in Khartoum after a 14-year exile in Egypt amid threats of protest demonstrations by the opposition, news organisations reported. Presidential Affairs Minister Bakri Hassan Salih led the government welcoming party. Nimeiri was later met by President al-Bashir who hoped his return would "support the process of construction and development". Nimeiri said he was not returning as a ruler or a power seeker, indicating that he would work through his newly-registered Coalition of People's Working Forces to realise "freedoms and equality". He called on all the national political forces in and outside the Sudan to "do away with disunity and conflict and work for realising national accord". On Sunday, the opposition umbrella group National Democratic Alliance (NDA) said it had set up a committee to follow up on bringing charges against Nimeiri for alleged "massacres and assassinations". Nimeiri, the first opposition leader to accept al-Bashir's invitation to return, has been given a presidential amnesty from prosecution.