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**Reforms of Sudan’s strict security laws do not go far enough and threaten to undermine the 2010 election, southern Sudanese politicians have said.**President Omar al-Bashir’s party passed the new law, which shortens the amount of time suspects can be held.
But it upholds the right of agents to arrest, search and hold suspects.
The southern SPLM party wants those powers given to police. They say the security forces will arrest anyone campaigning against Mr Bashir.
Southern Sudan became a semi-autonomous region after two decades of north-south civil conflict ended in 2005.
The former rebel SPLM (Sudan People’s Liberation Movement)governs the south and shares power at the national level with Mr Bashir’s National Congress Party but the two are rivals in the elections.
SPLM ambassador to the US Ezekiel Lol Gatkout says the security law allows human rights to be violated.
“Anybody who is going to campaign against Bashir and say things that seem to be threatening Bashir - they will detain you and then they will release you after the election is over,” he told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.