Sudan ex-intelligence chief warns of election violence
KHARTOUM — The former head of the Khartoum regime's intelligence services warned on Monday that the threat of orchestrated violence hung over Sudan's first multi-party elections in nearly a quarter of a century.- - -
Salah Gosh, who now holds the post of security adviser to President Omar al-Beshir, did not elaborate on where the threat came from to the presidential, parliamentary and state elections scheduled for April.
"The elections face the danger of orchestrated, not spontaneous violence," said Gosh, who was replaced as intelligence chief in August.
"It could happen that we are faced with violence aimed at sabotaging the electoral process and orchestrated by a group opposed to these polls," the official SUNA news agency quoted him as telling a Khartoum news conference.
April's elections will be Sudan's first multi-party poll since 1986. That election brought to power a government headed by Sadeq al-Mahdi, which was overthrown by Beshir in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.
Gosh accused regional powers he did not name of trying to destabilise the country.
Report from United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), 29 December 2009:
UNAMID, Government rally to increase security in Darfur
Today, representatives of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNAMID) and the Government of Sudan signed the framework for a plan of action aimed at ensuring the safety of UNAMID personnel and their assets.
This signing ceremony follows a working session held in Khartoum on Sunday 20 December in which the two parties discussed ways and means of reducing attacks on UNAMID. There has been a rapid increase in ambushes, kidnappings and carjackings against UNAMID in the recent months.
The framework to ensure the safety of UNAMID personnel was signed by UNAMID Force Commander, Lieutenant-General Patrick Nyamvumba, and the Sudanese Ministry of Defence’s Director of International Cooperation, Lieutenant-General Magzoub Rahma. The Force Commander has stated that this plan will enhance the existing Status-of-Forces (SOFA) agreement. He added that “it will provide additional measures to cap the growing trend of insecurity in Darfur.”
Today’s agreement is due to be endorsed in two weeks. According to SOFA, the primary responsibility for the security and protection of UNAMID peacekeeping personnel and their assets rests with the host government.
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Photo: Sudanese presidential adviser Ghaze Salaheddin (R) meets with Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Faki in Khartoum on December 25, 2009. The United States on Tuesday welcomed efforts by Sudan and Chad to normalize ties, underlining how such moves would also help bring peace to Sudan's conflict-torn western Darfur region. (AFP/Ibrahim Hamid)
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all 15 news articles »
UPDATE - Wed 13 January 2010:
Photo: Presidential Advisor for National Security, Salah Abdullah Gosh. (Source: Miraya FM, 12 January 2010 report: President’s Advisor for National Security warns of organized violence during elections)
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