After about a year, it was taken down following after pressure from energy industry and political officials.

Many top political officials were members of the party.

He showed a talent for politics early on and established excellent working relations with local political officials.

"The alliance as a whole does not have a common platform from where we can start toward an administration," a political official said.

Indeed, many political officials say the entire way the Council functions is up for grabs.

The media and political officials all stress to leave the car at home.

But as the leaders prepared to meet with federal political officials, some of them insisted that the protests would continue until their demands were met.

Whether a similar arrangement could be worked out again is not clear, political and military officials said.

The most senior rebel military and political officials are openly battling one another.

The appointed senior political and church officials were usually English-born.