SUDAN WATCH

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

South Kordofan: Attack on 3 polling centers by the Sudan Liberation Army Front (SLAF)

Attack on 3 polling centers in South Kordofan State
From Miraya FM, Wednesday, 14 April 2010 20:06
Last Updated Thursday, 15 April 2010 01:04:

Three polling centers were attacked Wednesday morning in South Kordofan State. A group called the Sudan Liberation Army Front has claimed responsibility. In a press statement to Radio Miraya, the field commander of the group, Abu Baker Mohammed Kadu, said the attacks targeted the areas of Danffara, Heigleig and Al Demulowiya in Al Deab municipality.

Reports stated that a delegation from the state government of South Kordofan is traveling to the area to inspect damages incurred.

On his part, the Chairman of the Sudan Liberation Army Front, Juma Al Wakeil, in an interview with Radio Miraya said that his front does not recognize the current elections because war is still raging in Darfur and South Kordofan. Wakeil also added that both regions are not represented in the central government.

He blasted the government for siphoning oil from these areas for other states like Khartoum and Port Sudan, leaving only oil tragedies in return. Wakeil further said, that the world must know that his front is a revoluntionary force and will continue to fight the system, regardless of the elections.

Meanwhile the Chairman of the State High Elections Committee in South Kordofan, Adam Abdean, told Radio Miraya that an unknown group attacked a vehicle of an electoral candidate's agent, wounding two persons.

He said the area, west of South Kordofan, has been witnessing problems even before the elections.

However, the office manager for the spokesperson of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) Lt Colonel Al Suwarmi Khalid, has denied any attack or clashes in the area. Lt Col. Suwarmi confirmed that no incident has occured and that the electoral process has not been disrupted.

Lt Colonel Al Suwarmi Khliad said the army had only spotted Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) vehicles entering South Kordofan. He assured that the SAF reported this "suspicious" activity to the Joint Defense Council and reaffirmed that this incident did not lead to any military encounter in South Kordofan

Click and listen to Manager to the Spokesperson of the Sudan Armed Forces, Lt Colonel Al Suwarmi Khalid.

Click and listen to Chairman of the Sudan's Liberation Army Front, Juma Al Wakeil.

ELECTIONS 2010 REPORTS

Wednesday, 14 April 2010 20:41
Elections: Day Four
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 20:01
North Kordofan State
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 19:05
Khartoum State
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 18:58
Blue Nile State
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 18:54
Central Equatoria State
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 18:51
Upper Nile State
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 18:39
Eastern Equatoria State
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 18:16
Abyei
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 17:25
South Kordofan
Wednesday, 14 April 2010 17:00
Gedaref State
More Elections Reports >>>

N Central Sudan: Some bus drivers in Jebel Aulia earn 100 pounds a day & free fuel during elections

Transport Business in Jebel Aulia Booms Thanks to Elections
From SRS - Sudan Radio Service:

14 April 2010 - (Jebel Aulia) – Bus drivers in Jebel Aulia say business is booming as they transport voters to the polling stations.

SRS spoke to some drivers at polling stations at an IDP camp in Jebel Aulia on Tuesday.

Al-Haj Ramadan Ismail, a minibus driver, explains how business has improved over the last few days.

[Al-Haj Ramadan]: “I transport voters to the polling stations so that they come to cast their votes and go back home, I bring them from home and return them home this is how I am working with them and the work is good, business is good now and elections are going on well, no fear, nothing. Thanks be to God especially working with the NCP. Truly, the work is good. Yes, truly the work is good, not bad. During the elections, I earn 100 pounds a day, it is good; they give me a hundred pounds and give me fuel free. Thanks be to God, it is good.”

Osman Al-Amin, another bus driver, also says business that business has improved since voting began.

[Osman Al-Amin]: “The work is going well. There are managers and monitors in the bus and there are also delegates to dispatch people and bring them and they explain the voting process to the voters, how to cast their votes. Those who don’t know and have no idea at all come and ask what they are supposed to. I transport them from one place to another, and to their residences where they come from. They gather in one place for example at the head office of the popular committee in their area, in the mosque or church they gather there and I come and transport them to polling stations. Of course the management of the area informs them of the electoral process, and then they gather in one place. I come and transport them. Of course, political parties organize them, whether it's the NCP or the Popular Congress Party. I am just working. I have no problem with this party or with that party."

Those were two bus drivers who spoke to SRS at Jebel Aulia IDP camp.

More News from SRS - Sudan Radio Service:

14-Apr-2010

13-Apr-2010

Charles Haskins
News Programming Advisor
Sudan Radio Service (SRS)
a project of Education Development Center
T: +254 715 05 2924 or +254 (20) 387 0906
F: +254 (20) 387 6520

Listen to SRS on the radio or on the web at www.sudanradio.org
- - -

Jabal Awliya
Jabal Awliya (jäb'äl ou"lē-ä') [key]or Jebel Aulia (jeb'ul' ou'lēu) [key], village, N central Sudan. Nearby is a large dam (completed 1937) that is used to control the flow of the Nile to aid the Aswan Dam in storing water for summer cultivation in parts of Egypt.

Photo: Jebel Aulia dam after floods (Alun McDonald)

"Sudan Votes Music Hopes" album includes Emmanuel Jal

Listen to the "Sudan Votes Music Hopes" album and view videos at:
Sudan Votes Music Hopes

Note that the album includes:
Emmanuel Jalإيمانويل جل
Kuar
Lyrics, Vocals & Co-production by: Emmanuel Jal
Produced by: Chris Aduwar

Click on Jal label below to read Emmanuel Jal's truly amazing life story.

Thanks to Sudan Votes for including Sudan Watch in its list of links at:
www.sudanvotes.com

Official websites:

Government of National Unity (GoNU)

Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS)

National Assembly

National Elections Commission

National Publications and Press Council

Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) support to the elections in Sudan

United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS)

Get different views from other media:

Anyuak Media

External Information Council

Sudan Media Center - SMC

Sudan News Agency - SUNA

Sudan News Net

SudaneseOnline

Sudan Radio Service - SRS

United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) Media Monitoring

Click on Jal label below to read Emmanuel Jal's truly amazing life story.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

BBC World Service Africa: SUDAN ELECTIONS 2010

Click into BBC World Service for a collection of reports and images from the BBC's election team in Sudan and BBCWSafrica's tweets.

A poster encouraging people to cast their votes in Sudan's forthcoming elections. (BBC World Service Africa)

Panoramic 360 photo: Sudan homecoming

About two million have returned to their homes in the south since the 2005 peace deal. The BBC's Lucy Fleming visited the village of Mathiang Dit in the province of Northern Bahr al-Ghazal, where more than half the population is made up of returnees. Click here to explore a 360 degree panorama of a village gathering and listen to their remarkable stories.

Sudan: 'I Will Wait Until the End'

Sudan: 'I Will Wait Until the End'
From United Nations Mission in Sudan (New York)
Monday, 12 April 2010 (with thanks to AllAFrica):

When Sudan held its last elections over two decades ago, Maria Majok of Warrap State was just a baby on her mother’s back.

“My mother told me that I was a three-month-old baby when she participated in the elections 24 years back,” said an elated Ms. Majok.

A student at Kuajok Secondary School and currently pregnant, Ms. Majok cast her vote on Sunday, the first day of polling, at Anguei polling station just outside the capital Kuajok.

Smiling and enthusiastically waving her inked finger after she finished voting, Ms. Majok was excited to cast a ballot for the first time in her life, stating that she looked forward to a bright future for her family as a result of the elections.

“I am very happy to participate in this election. I am looking forward to a future without war and displacement,” she said.

While a high turnout of people was smoothly casting their votes at other polling stations around Kuajok, some centres were marred by logistical problems and delays.

Ajok Akuei, 68, arrived at Freedom Square polling station just after sunrise eager to vote, but waited in a queue for over three hours before its doors opened. When her name failed to appear on the voters’ list, Ms. Akuei visited four other polling stations to no avail.

Marla Kuol, Deputy Team Leader of Warrap State High Committee, blamed the name confusion on the arrangement of voter lists in alphabetical order. “Now we are working hard to redistribute the voter lists to each centre again.”

But none of the teething problems experienced on the first day of voting seemed to have affected Ms. Akuei’s spirits. Mindful that there were still two days of scheduled balloting in her nation’s historic general election, she vowed to continue seeking a polling station with her name on its list of registered voters.

“I have my card with me and I want to vote because it is my right,” said Ms. Akuei. “I will wait until the end.”

African Union Observer Mission to the elections in Sudan

Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA
P. O. Box 3243
Telephone : 251-11-5517700
Fax : 251-11-5517844

ARRIVAL STATEMENT OF THE AFRICAN UNION OBSERVER MISSION
TO THE 2010 ELECTIONS IN SUDAN, 11-13 APRIL 2010

At the invitation of the National Electoral Commission of Sudan to the African Union, and in pursuance to the African Union’s Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa, H.E. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, decided to send a 50-member multi-disciplinary team of observers to Sudan to observe the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections, scheduled for 11th-13th April, 2010.

The Mission is made up of officials drawn from National Electoral Commissions, National Parliaments, members of the Pan-African Parliament, members of the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the AU, Regional Legislative Assemblies and Economic Communities, Ambassadors, prominent African individuals, and members of civil societies. The African Union Observer Mission is headed by H. E. John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of the Republic of Ghana. His wealth of experience in election observation, together with the wide experience of the members of this Mission, underscores the richness in diversity and competence that is required for the task ahead.

The Observer Mission was preceded by pre-election assessment missions of the African Union and an advance team of monitors who were also deployed to Sudan on March 18, 2010.

The African Union Observer Mission to Sudan is faced with the challenge of observing the Sudanese elections in accordance with the African Union’s Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa. The Mission is expected to determine if the elections were conducted in accordance with the constitutional and legal framework of the country by following the rules and procedures pursuant to the electoral laws of the country, as well as to determine the credibility of the whole electoral process. The African Union Mission to Sudan is a neutral, non-partisan, and non-aligned body that will make an honest, independent, impartial and objective assessment of the organization and the conduct of the elections.

The Mission expects to meet with various stakeholders in elections and these include: Political Parties, Civil Society Actors, the media, the National Electoral Commission of Sudan, as well as domestic and international observer missions deployed in Sudan to observe the elections. This will be part of an information gathering exercise on the elections. It is also important to know that democratic elections are the basis of any representative government, and the conduct of such elections at stipulated intervals, constitute one of the key elements to the democratization process that is essential for good governance, rule of law, and the maintenance and promotion of peace, security, stability and sustainable development.

The African Union Mission commends relevant institutions and the people of Sudan for this historic undertaking and wishes that the ongoing electoral process unfolds peacefully until its completion.

The Mission is supported by a team from the African Union. For further information please contact the AU Mission Secretariat based at the Grand Holiday Villa Hotel in Khartoum. Mobile number: +249 902 273 289; Telephone Number: +249 183 774039 and Fax: +249 183 773 961.

Security situation in Darfur 12 April 2010 - 4 UNAMID South African peacekeepers missing nr Nyala, S. Darfur, W. Sudan

Darfur/UNAMID Daily Media Brief 2010-04-12
From United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID)
EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, Tuesday, April 13, 2010/APO:

Security situation in Darfur
Notwithstanding the fact that four UNAMID peacekeepers remain unaccounted for, the security situation in Darfur remains calm. UNAMID has mobilized its resources in the Nyala region and is working closely with the Government of the Sudan and local authorities in the search for the missing peacekeepers.

UNAMID military forces conducted 58 patrols including routine, short range, long range, night, and Humanitarian escort patrols, covering 45 villages and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps during the reporting period.

UNAMID police advisors also conducted 58 patrols in villages and IDP camps.

UNAMID leadership joins patrol of IDP camps
UNAMID Joint Special Representative (JSR) Ibrahim Gambari today accompanied UNAMID police as they conducted a patrol of Abu Shouk and Al Salam Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps outside El Fasher, North Darfur. He was accompanied by Deputy Joint Special Representative (DJSR) Mohamed Yonis and Police Commissioner Micheal Fryer.

The delegation visited Community Policing Centres in both camps, as well as polling stations, where IDPs were casting their votes in the country’s first multi-party elections in 24 years.

After speaking to several voters, JSR Gambari remarked “they want to vote, they want to exercise their right to vote. I am very happy that I was here to see them.”

Ghana’s Kufuor visits Darfur as head of AU Election Mission
Former Ghanaian President, John Agyekum Kufuor, and head of the African Union (AU) Liaison Office in Sudan, Ambassador Mahmoud Kane, were received today by UNAMID Joint Special Representative (JSR) Ibrahim Gambari at the Mission’s headquarters in El Fasher, North Darfur.

The Ghanaian statesman is heading a 50-member AU observer team for the first multi-party elections in Sudan since 1986.

Mr. Kufuor and Mr. Kane were briefed by UNAMID senior officials on the current security and situation and the political landscape of Darfur.

“We hope the electoral process will open opportunities for the people of the Sudan and enable them, using democracy [to] work for peace within the borders of this huge country,” Kufuor said.

Other international bodies, such as the Arab League and the Carter Center, have observers on the ground.

Darfur/UNAMID peacekeepers reported missing
From United Nations – African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) via APO:

EL FASHER (DARFUR), Sudan, April 13, 2010 - Four UNAMID peacekeepers have not been seen or heard from in nearly 24 hours. The peacekeepers last movement was reported at 16:00 hrs on 11 April 2010, as they departed their team site just outside of Nyala, South Darfur, on a 7km journey back to their private accommodation.

“There have been no sightings of our staff and we are deeply concerned for their well-being,” said UNAMID Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari, who is in direct contact with Sudanese Government officials over this issue.

UNAMID has mobilized its resources in the region and is working closely with the Government of the Sudan and local authorities in the search for the missing peacekeepers.

Four South African peacekeepers kidnapped in Sudan's Darfur
From English.news.cn 2010-04-13 14:37:29 Editor: Xiong Tong

KHARTOUM, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Four peacekeepers belonging to the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) have been kidnapped by unknown gunmen in the restive western Sudanese region of Darfur, a UNAMID source told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The anonymous source said the four South African peacekeepers, two male and two female, were stopped by some 10 gunmen when they were driving from their working site to their private accommodation near Nyala, the capital city of the South Darfur state, on Sunday.

The source quoted witnesses as saying that the four policemen were forced to step off their vehicle at gunpoint.

No armed group in Darfur has made contacts with the UNAMID to claim responsibility for the kidnapping, the source noted.

UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni has refused to confirm or deny the kidnapping, noting that the four peacekeepers were reported missing since Sunday.

"I can not confirm or deny this report (of the kidnapping), I have no confirmations on what had happened," the spokesman said on Tuesday.

Fears raised as four AU-UN peacekeepers go missing in Sudan's Darfur region
From UN News Centre - ‎Monday, 12 April 2010
Four peacekeepers serving with the joint African Union-United Nations force in the western Sudanese region of Darfur have not been seen or ...

Red Cross: 8 staff kidnapped in eastern Congo‎
From The Associated Press - Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Three foreign Red Cross workers were kidnapped in the Philippines last year, and French staff members were seized in Chad and Sudan. ...

Monday, April 12, 2010

Great news report from Khartoum, Sudan by Alex de Waal

Good for Sudan
From ssrc.org Making Sense of Sudan
By Alex de Waal
Monday, 12 April 2010

The last two days I have been in Khartoum, on the phone and email to people in all corners of Sudan. Places like Bor, Renk, Damazin, Aweil, Geneina, ed Da’ien, Hamush Koreb, Kadugli.

Names seared into the memory. Places where I took photographs of burned villages and disfigured survivors, or wrote accounts of misery and destruction. Some places that I never visited, but which were described to me by escapees who detailed their imprisonment, violation, hunger and despair. As Deborah Scroggins wrote of the displaced camps along the railway line to the south in 1988, these were “places so sad that the mind grows queasy trying to understand them.” For the last 24 years, since I spent Sudan’s last multi-party election day in the village of Nankose, south of Zalingei, whenever I received a message from one of these places, it was usually to report a story of execution, starvation, or forced displacement. My questions were, who is dead and who is alive, who is in prison and who is still free?

Today the questions are, did the ballots arrive in time? Were all the names on the electoral roll? What was the voter turnout?
Quietly, with dignity, with apprehension and sometimes with confusion and frustration, millions of Sudanese are voting. Good for them.