Lawyers representing dissolved Sudanese opposition parties have rejected a draft law regulating the formation of political parties.They said in a statement in Khartoum that the legislation did not offer access to democracy.

The lawyers called for a constitutional conference and warned that otherwise the civil war would worsen.

Yesterday an exiled opposition leader, Sadeq al-Mahdi, dismissed a government invitation to return home.

He said in a statement in Cairo that his Umma party first wanted to see democracy in Sudan.