Don't rubbish Sudan elections - Former U.S. President Carter will be among the official observers

Don't rubbish Sudan elections
From Cif Guardian.co.uk
By Simon Tisdall, Friday 9 April 2010:

The elections won't be perfect, but the chorus of condemnation from those pursuing a Darfur-focused agenda misses the point



A Sudanese man kisses a picture of President Omar al-Bashir at a protest against the arrest warrant issued against him last year. Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty

Not a single vote has yet been cast in Sudan's elections but already international pressure groups and domestic opponents of the current government are queuing up to rubbish the process. This chorus of condemnation seems a little premature. It also misses the point. While it's likely the polls will be flawed in important respects, in a fundamental sense, that does not matter. For the major players inside and outside Sudan, the elections, beginning on Sunday, are merely a staging post on a much longer journey.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, is among the most outspoken critics. He said sending EU and African Union observers to monitor the vote was a waste of time. "It's like monitoring a Hitler election," he said. Moreno-Ocampo urged western countries to concentrate instead on arresting Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, charged by the ICC with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

Moreno-Ocampo has a particular axe to grind. Like the Waging Peace and the Save Darfur Coalition pressure groups, broader issues of democratic governance and implementation of the 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) that ended Sudan's ruinous north-south civil war take second place, in his view, to the importance of avenging Darfur and arraigning Bashir in The Hague.

"It is clear to all observers that these much heralded 'multi-party elections' have never been more than an attempt by [Bashir] to legitimise his position in the eyes of the international community," said Sophie McCann of Waging Peace. The process was "unsalvageable". For its part, Save Darfur seized on the partial poll boycott by some opposition parties to urge the US, Britain and others to disown the whole business and condemn Bashir's "dictatorial rule".

Mixed motives also lie behind the decision of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the main southern political party, to boycott polling in Darfur and the north. The SPLM and other opposition groups have voiced concerns about the accuracy of the 2008 census on which voting is based, the ruling National Congress party's (NCP) monopoly of state resources, and alleged bias of the national elections commission.

These worries are shared by independent organisations such as the Carter Centre (former US president Jimmy Carter is due in Sudan with 60 observers) and the International Crisis Group, which says many displaced Darfuris will be denied a vote. Human Rights Watch accuses both the government and the SPLM of intimidating political rivals, although the picture is mixed. Overall, media controls have been relaxed and some opposition leaders have been give airtime.

Yet Sudan experts say it's clear that the SPLM's main concern is not the elections at all, but rather avoiding any delay to January's CPA-directed referendum on southern independence (which is widely expected to result in Sudan's partition). Thus its decision not to contest the presidential or parliamentary votes in northern areas suits Bashir's NCP very well, despite protestations to the contrary. The unspoken deal is plain enough: Bashir the bogeyman gets re-elected and relegitimised, while the south (comprising 25% of the population) and its US-backed president, Salva Kiir, gets independence (and 50% of Sudan's oil wealth).

Political opportunism and pragmatism have combined neatly. "The SPLM decided to pull out simply because they know they are not going to win the presidency," said NCP official Omar Rahma in an al-Jazeera interview. Nor does the SPLM seem troubled by the fact that its unilateral decision to mount a partial boycott threw other opposition parties, with which it was supposedly co-ordinating, into confusion. That the SPLM boycott worries western pressure groups is a measure of their naivety.

The Obama administration and Britain cannot be accused of such credulousness. What they most want from these elections is already clear – and it is not a democratic showcase or Bashir's arrest. They want north-south deals on border demarcation and oil-revenue sharing, settlements in trouble spots such as Abyei and South Kordofan, and a successful independence referendum as envisaged by the CPA. The US, in particular, sees a future southern Sudanese republic as an important ally.

The western powers see in this outcome the prospect of a final, lasting peace in Darfur, wider regional stability encompassing Chad, and ultimately, Khartoum's rehabilitation. A recent joint statement by the foreign secretary David Miliband and the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton set priorities: "Irrespective of the outcome of elections, it is essential that work continues and is accelerated to meet remaining CPA deadlines."

Predictions that Sudan's elections will produce an Afghanistan-style fiasco of rigging and recrimination misunderstand the position. All the main actors want a success, and that is what they will most probably deem the polls to be, with the usual caveats and reservations, almost whatever the outcome. This conformity of purpose elicited a remarkable boast from Bashir, speaking in Sinar on the Blue Nile last week: "Even America is becoming an NCP member. No one is against our will."

Simon Tisdall (pictured above) is an assistant editor of the Guardian and a foreign affairs columnist. He was previously a foreign leader writer for the paper and has also served as its foreign editor and its US editor, based in Washington DC. He was the Observer's foreign editor from 1996-98

Further reading



Former US President Jimmy Carter speaks to reporters as he arrives at Khartoum International Airport, ahead of the country's national elections on April 11. "We are hoping and praying that it will be a fair and honest election for those are participating," Carter said. (AFP/Ashraf Shazly Thu Apr 8, 2010)



Former US President Jimmy Carter, left, leaves after speaking to the media following his arrival in the capital Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 8, 2010. The Carter Center said Thursday that former President Jimmy Carter will be among the official observers when Sudan conducts national elections next week. (AP Photo/Abd Raouf)



A Sudanese man reads a newspaper under posters of presidential candidates in Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, April 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)



A campaign poster for Sudan People's Liberation Movement's southern presidential candidate Salva Kiir hangs from a tree in a remote village in Dongoi in Western Equatorial State, April 7, 2010. (Reuters/Finbarr O'Reilly)



Sudanese election officials receive training during a mock voting session ahead of Sunday's general election, in the village of Mvolo in Western Equatorial State, April 7, 2010. (Reuters/Finbarr O'Reilly)



Workers from the National Elections Commission (NEC) prepare polling boxes at the central NEC ballot distribution center in Khartoum April 8, 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nurdldin)



Workers from the National Elections Commission (NEC) carry polling boxes at the central NEC ballot distribution center in Khartoum April 8, 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nurdldi)



A Sudanese worker from the National Elections Commission (NEC) checks ballot boxes at the central NEC ballot distribution center of Khartoum April 8, 2010 (Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah)



Sonia, a French adviser for the Sudanese National Elections Commission (NEC), checks ballot boxes at the central NEC ballot distribution center of Khartoum April 8, 2010. (Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah)



A Sudanese worker loads election material including ballot papers and voting booths into a waiting helicopter of the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur, UNAMID to be transported to the voting center of the north Darfur town of Mellit, in the airport of el Fasher, Darfur, Sudan Thursday, April 8, 2010. Preparations continue for the upcoming multiparty general elections in Sudan starting on April 13. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)



A Sudanese refugee boy walks past a UNAMID (African Union/UN Hybrid operation in Darfur) vehicle near a polling station at Abou Shouk refugee camp, on the outskirts of the north Darfur capital of el Fasher, Sudan, Wednesday, April 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)



A UNAMID (African Union/UN Hybrid operation in Darfur) peacekeeper stands guard near a polling station, in background, at Abou Shouk refugee camp, on the outskirts of the North Darfur capital of el Fasher, Sudan, Wednesday, April 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)



Sudanese refugee boys stand by a UNAMID (African Union/UN Hybrid operation in Darfur) peacekeeper guarding a nearby polling station at Abou Shouk refugee camp, on the outskirts of the North Darfur capital of el Fasher, Sudan, Wednesday, April 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)



UNAMID (African Union/UN Hybrid operation in Darfur) peacekeepers patrol the area surrounding a polling station at Abou Shouk refugee camp, on the outskirts of the north Darfur capital of el Fasher, Sudan, Wednesday, April 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)



Sudanese police patrol in the town of Al Fasher, northern Darfur April 8, 2010. (Reuters/Zohra Bensemra)



European Union chief elections observer Veronique De Keyser speaks to journalists at Abu Shouk camp outside El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, April 7, 2010. (Reuters/Andrew Heavens)



European Union election observers leave El Fasher airport in North Darfur, led by EU chief observer Veronique De Keyser (centre), April 7, 2010. The European Union on Wednesday withdrew its election observers from Sudan's Darfur region, saying safety fears were hindering their work. (Reuters/Andrew Heavens)



A European Union election observer boards a plane at El Fasher airport in North Darfur April 7, 2010. (Reuters/Andrew Heavens)



A Sudanese woman crosses the street infront of a vehicle with electoral posters on the hood at the main market of the Darfur town of el Fasher, Sudan Thursday, April 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)



A disabled woman on a tricycle rides past campaign posters for the upcoming April 11 presidential and legislative elections in the town of Al Fasher, northern Darfur April 8, 2010. (Reuters/Zohra Bensemra)



A Sudanese woman uses her mobile while passing by electoral posters at the main market of the Darfur town of el Fasher, Sudan Thursday, April 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Confused Signals From SPLM Over Northern Boycott - Or Is It Withdrawal?
SRS - Friday, 9 April 2010 (Juba) – SPLM chairman Salva Kiir Mayardit says his party has withdrawn its candidate for the presidency, Yasir Arman, but has not called for a general boycott of the elections in the north, as announced on Wednesday by the SPLM secretary-general, Pagan Amum.

SSHEC Satisfied With Progress of Elections Run-Up
SRS - Friday, 9 April 2010 (Merowe) – President Omar al-Bashir has reiterated that there will be free and fair elections throughout the country. Addressing the public during the official opening of a hydro-electric plant at Merowe Dam on Thursday, President al-Bashir said elections which will begin on Sunday will be free of any irregularities. President al-Bashir was speaking at Merowe Dam, at the end of his presidential campaign.

Al-Bashir Says Elections Shall Be Fair Because It Is God's Will
SRS - Friday, 9 April 2010 (Juba) – The South Sudan High Elections Committee has described the campaign period for the April elections as ‘peaceful and without irregularities’. Jersa Kide Barsaba told SRS that the Committee has only received one official complaint which it could not verify.



Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaks to the press after meeting officials of the national election commission at their headquarters in Khartoum April 9, 2010. Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years are on track to start on Sunday, with Khartoum dismissing a U.S. suggestion that it would consider supporting a brief delay to ensure greater stability. (Reuters/Mohamed Nurdldin Fri Apr 9, 1:11 PM ET)



International observers from the U.S.-based Carter Center prepare to leave for Sudan's Northern states to monitor voting, in Khartoum April 9, 2010. Reuters/Mohamed Nurdldin Fri Apr 9, 1:38 PM ET)

Peace talks to continue in Darfur after weekend elections, AU-UN official stresses

Peace talks to continue in Darfur after weekend elections, AU-UN official stresses
From UN News Centre, Thursday, 8 April 2010:

The joint African Union-United Nations chief mediator for Darfur confirmed today that negotiations aimed at generating a comprehensive peace deal to end the ongoing conflict in the western Sudanese region will continue after Sudanese vote in national elections starting this Sunday.

“The Mediation earnestly calls on the parties to fully comply with the declared ceasefire with a view to promoting confidence among the parties, improving the security and humanitarian conditions in Darfur, creating an environment conducive to negotiations and alleviating the sufferings of the population in Darfur,” Djibril Bassolé said in a statement released jointly with Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in Qatar.

In the statement, Mr. Bassolé and Mr. Al-Mahmoud welcomed the Framework Agreement signed between the Sudanese Government and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in late February in Doha, Qatar. They also welcomed the Framework Agreement and Ceasefire Agreement between the Government and another rebel group, the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM), signed last month.

The signing of the agreements represents a “quantum leap” and a “crucial phase of the ongoing Doha peace process,” the statement noted.

Last month, Ibrahim Gambari, the Joint Special Representative of the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), described the agreement with the LJM as “another important milestone” on the path towards a comprehensive peace pact in Darfur and said it would have an important impact on the security of people on the ground.

Darfur, a region roughly the size of Spain, has been torn by war since 2003, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 300,000 people and the displacement of 2.7 million others. In addition to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan face tensions between its northern and southern regions.

The upcoming elections, the first of their kind in 24 years in Sudan, are seen as a benchmark in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which was signed in 2005 to end the long-running north-south civil war. Voting is due to start on Sunday.

The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), which works independently of UNAMID, has been providing technical and logistical support to the Government and the National Elections Commission (NEC) to enable timely conduct of the elections.

SUDAN: A flawed election would be better than none, for it would mean progress towards a peaceful north-south split

Chaos and confusion reign in Sudan’s first multiparty elections for 24 years. But the vote could yet benefit a huge country that is likely soon to split into two.

A flawed election would be better than none, for it would mean progress towards a peaceful north-south split.

The Umma National Party has joined the SPLM, the Communist Party and the Umma Party in boycotting elections at all levels in northern Sudan.

Full story below.

Hunt the missing voter
From The Economist print edition
Thursday 08 April 2010 KHARTOUM

Chaos and confusion reign in Sudan’s first multiparty elections for 24 years. But the vote could yet benefit a huge country that is likely soon to split into two



IN SOME respects electioneering in Sudan would be instantly recognisable to the thousands of would-be MPs who set off on the campaign trail this week in Britain. Sudanese candidates, preparing for the presidential and general election that is due to start on April 11th and continue until the 13th, get on “battle-buses” to meet their constituents, are tended by party hacks and helped along by the odd spin-doctor. They address the party faithful at set-piece rallies, even if there is more ululating than on the average British hustings. And the crowds that listen to them are bored or ecstatic, depending largely on how long the candidates speak for.

But the differences are large. For one thing, no one is sure whether the polls will take place on time—if at all. Take Mariam al-Mahdi’s tour of her constituency this week. A parliamentary candidate, she is a leader of the Umma party, the main northern opposition to President Omar al-Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP). She had two big quandaries. The first was whether her party would, in the end, be competing, since it had called for the poll to be postponed. Her second was whether she could find the voters.

Though there were supposed to be 47,000 of them registered in the red desert that forms the largest part of her “Area 11” constituency, it was hard to find anyone who knew much about the election, let alone a registered voter. At the tiny hamlet of Wadi al-Faki, a few mud huts about 50km (30 miles) west of Omdurman, the city that is across the Nile from the capital, Khartoum, a local man said that 20 of the 40 adults had registered. But according to the official register, this and a similar neighbouring village were supposed to be bulging with 622 voters. Farther down the road, another scruffy settlement called Wadi al-Saial was said to have only about 50 people, children included. But officially there were 478 registered voters. Where are the phantom voters? “Maybe they were underground,” joked an Umma official.

At the end of the day the Umma team took a long drive through a vast shanty town on the fringes of Omdurman itself, damningly known as the “black belt” to the lighter-skinned Arabs of Khartoum. Here live hundreds of thousands of the poorest Sudanese, displaced from Darfur or the south, regions where the present regime’s wars have killed a huge number and made millions homeless. Yet Ms Mahdi believes that only 5,000 of the shanty town’s voters (among whom are many of Mr Bashir’s most bitter opponents) have been included in her constituency.

The conclusion drawn by the Umma team is that the government-appointed National Election Commission (NEC) has boosted the number of voters in places where the NCP thinks people will vote for it and severely under-registered neighbourhoods where its opponents are strong. Come polling day, some suggest, an anonymous official finger will stamp the box by the tree, the ruling party’s election symbol in a country where about half the population is illiterate. If this sort of rigging works across the country, Mr Bashir should easily win the presidential race.

This precooking of the election eventually persuaded Ms Mahdi’s Umma party, three days before the vote, to say it would boycott the poll at every level. The Communists had already pulled out. The main southern opposition party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), withdrew its presidential candidate and most of its parliamentary ones in the north. Yet the boycott seemed certain to give Mr Bashir, wanted for alleged crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, a virtual walk-over.

So confusion reigns. The candidates’ names and symbols have already been printed on ballot papers. Many voters will have no idea which party is boycotting what particular level of election. If voters pick boycotting candidates, will the winners take up their seats? Perhaps, to appease the opposition a little, the NEC could declare a short postponement of the election to sort out some of the irregularities. This is unlikely but could yet happen.

What went wrong?
It was all supposed to turn out so differently. The election was sold as the mechanism for “democratic transformation” in Africa’s largest country. It is an integral part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed between the Muslim north of the country and the Christian and animist south in 2005. The CPA brought an end to Africa’s longest-running civil war—which had cost 2m lives and forced millions to flee their homes, often to the black belt around Omdurman and Khartoum—and was designed to resolve the country’s problems at a stroke.

A root cause of Sudan’s terrible civil conflicts has been the concentration of wealth and power in the centre at the expense of the regions: the south and also Darfur, where a full-scale rebellion erupted in 2003. It was hoped that the elections, which are being held at local, state and federal level, would make the rulers more responsive to the needs and wishes of the ruled. But this is not a prospect that particularly appeals to the two parties that have ruled Sudan since 2005, the NCP in the north and the SPLM in the semi-autonomous south.

Mr Bashir and his NCP, who seized power from Sudan’s last democratically elected government in a coup in 1989, have for the past ten years been concerned mainly with enjoying the country’s oil wealth. This has come courtesy of the Chinese, who buy most of it. Unsurprisingly, the Sudanese leaders are determined by one means or another to remain in control.

The SPLM, for its part, is focused on an entirely different election: the referendum on southern secession that was promised as part of the CPA. This is due to take place in the south next January. Should most southerners vote for independence, as they are expected to, Africa could have its first new state for almost 20 years—ruled by the SPLM.

Determined to get to the referendum without upset, the SPLM has been accused throughout the election of suppressing any opposition to its rule. Its leader, Salva Kiir, is contesting only the presidency of south Sudan, thus demonstrating that his party is now bent entirely on consolidating its position in its own backyard.

Yet even though the election may be a charade, it could have positive results. If Mr Bashir gets his way at the vote, he may be more inclined to let the south leave Sudan peacefully. This event will profoundly change the map of east Africa. It may even alter the politics of north Sudan in ways that, for now, are hard to imagine.

It is also true that despite the government’s restrictions on opposition campaigning, the Sudanese have been able to speak openly about political matters for the first time in years. The sight of opposition politicians on television, even for just 20 minutes, denouncing Mr Bashir for corruption and misgovernment has been a revelation. Now there is hunger for more discussion and more politics.

This week, at an evening rally in Khartoum for the Islamist Popular Congress Party, a lawyer in a flowing jellabiya repeatedly denounced Mr Bashir as a liar, accusing him of being a hypocrite and a stooge of the CIA. This sort of talk in public was unthinkable only a few months ago. Young men hovered at the back of the open-air site, unsure whether to sit down and join in the new politics or lurk safely in the dark, as they are used to.

At several opposition rallies, the economy has been discussed. So far as Mr Bashir has a political platform, he is running on his economic record. All his campaign posters picture him smiling in front of some new development project: the (Chinese-built) Merowe dam, the latest (part Chinese) oil refinery or a new (Chinese-built) road, all the benefits of Mr Bashir’s rule. But the Umma party argues that the country’s oil bonanza has benefited very few Sudanese, and most of those are in the areas north of Khartoum, where most of the NCP leaders are from. Despite all the oil, the vast majority of Sudanese have no easy access to schools or health care.

The campaign has helped opposition parties to reconnect with their supporters, relearning the art of politics and discussing the state of the country openly for the first time in a generation. Nobody knows exactly where this will lead, but the fact that the government is obviously worried tells its own story. For many, particularly, the young, it is heady stuff.

Darfur may also have benefited from the elections, albeit obliquely. Mr Bashir knows that the western region contains the second-biggest number of voters after the south, so he has had to make some peace moves there in the past few months to shore up his support. A peace deal negotiated with neighbouring Chad is holding, and Mr Bashir has also signed a preliminary ceasefire agreement with two Darfuri rebel groups. These deals have provided some much-needed momentum to the meandering Darfur peace talks that are being held in Qatar. The level of violence has also declined slightly.

None of this may outlast the election. There were reports this week that government forces had already clashed with one of the two Darfuri groups that signed the deal. The main rebel group, the Sudanese Liberation Army, led by Abdul Wahid al-Nur, still refuses to enter into any talks with the government.

And Darfur remains the world’s worst humanitarian disaster. Although fewer people are now being killed, fighting continues and more than 3m people are stuck in refugee camps, either in Darfur itself or in eastern Chad. As a result, about 4m Darfuris still rely on food aid from the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). Few refugees in the camps bothered to register for a vote, fearing that this would prejudice their right to return to their real homes. Whatever happens at the election, the distressed region still awaits a political settlement that the Darfuris themselves feel they are part of.

Southern fear
Attention will soon switch to the south and its referendum. Few African heads of state want to endorse the break-up of Sudan, for fear that it would encourage similar secessionist movements elsewhere. Nonetheless, some African leaders have now publicly accepted the obvious: they may not like secession but, if it is done amicably, there is nothing to stop it.

However, just as the election has focused attention on the failings of the NCP, so the SPLM will attract scrutiny once the debate turns to the south. There is mounting concern about the misgovernment of the south and fear about its future vulnerability as a state. After five years of SPLM rule, too many health and social indicators are slipping backwards. According to the WFP, for instance, the number of malnourished people in the south has now crept up to 47% of the population. That is an ominous statistic for a freshly minted African country. As ever with Sudan, optimism and pessimism go hand in hand.

Related reports

Al-Mahdi Explains Reasons for Elections Boycott
SRS - Sudan Radio Service, Thursday, 8 April 2010:

(Khartoum) – The Umma party has announced that it is boycotting the general elections at all levels.

The leader of the Umma party and its former Presidential candidate, the former Prime Minister of the Sudan, Imam Al-Sadig Al-Mahdi, addressed a press conference in Omdurman on Thursday and explained the reasons for the boycott.

[Sadig Al-Mahdi]: “Our main concern was the issue of the transportation and control of the ballots and the fact that the number of polling centers was reduced to less than half of the original number. This denied other parties in the states the chance of participation in the elections and the National Elections Commission did nothing about this issue and this led to the general boycott of these flawed elections. When the issue was discussed for the second time, the view of the majority of our political bureau was in favor a complete boycott of the elections. The political bureau yesterday took its decision to boycott of elections at all levels because these elections do not represent the real will of the people of Sudan."

He urged that general elections should be held in Sudan after the self-determination referendum for Southern Sudan and after finding lasting peace to Darfur.

[Sadig Al-Mahdi]: “And from this platform and despite our position regarding the results of these elections, we, together with all political forces, will cooperate to achieve a just and lasting comprehensive peace and solve the Darfur crisis. We will continue our cooperation with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement to improve the chance of a just unity or brotherly neighborhood. We will continue to cooperate with all the opposition forces inside and outside the new constitutional institutions for the attainment of liberties and seek lasting solutions to the Darfur crisis and work to conduct free and fair general elections after the self-determination referendum for Southern Sudan, after we have found a lasting peace for Darfur.”

Al- Madhi, who was the last democratically elected leader of Sudan in 1986 before being overthrown in 1989 by President Omer Hassan al-Bashir, claimed that opinion polls conducted in northern Sudan suggested that his party would win fifty-one percent of the parliamentary seats in northern Sudan if they participated in the elections.

The Umma National Party has joined the SPLM, the Communist Party and the Umma Party in boycotting elections at all levels in northern Sudan.

Let those people go
The Economist print edition, Thursday, 8 April 2010:
A flawed election would be better than none, for it would mean progress towards a peaceful north-south split

Ballots delivered to Nagero, Western Equatoria
ReliefWeb (UNMIS press release) - Thursday April 8, 2010
Russian crews performed their final maintenance checks as helicopters were dispatched one by one to remote corners of Southern Sudan on 6 April ...

Khartoum insists elections will make Sudanese 'proud'‎
Earthtimes (press release) - Thursday April 8, 2010
By: dpa NewYork - Sudan said Thursday that national elections scheduled for this weekend will take place as planned ...

Sudan President Bashir insists elections will be fair‎
BBC News - Thursday April 8, 2010
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has insisted that the forthcoming elections will be "free and fair". In a speech on the campaign trail, Mr Bashir said the ...

Carter Arrives in Sudan, Expresses Hope for Successful Election‎
BusinessWeek - Maram Mazen - Thursday April 8, 2010 (Bloomberg)
Former US President Jimmy Carter expressed “regret” that some opposition parties have pulled out of Sudan's first ...

"Disturbing trends" ahead of Sudan polls: US envoy
AFP - Thursday April 8, 2010

Police on Standby to Provide Security During Elections
SRS (Sudan Radio Service) - Thursday April 8, 2010:

(Khartoum) – The Sudanese police has announced that more than 100,000 police officers will be deployed in 14 states in the north during the elections.

The official spokesperson for the elections security committee in Khartoum state, General Mohamed Ahmed Ali, addressed the media on Wednesday and said the police is ready to carry out its duties during the election period.

[General Mohamed Ahmed Ali]: “The force exceeds 100,000, they have been prepared and trained to cooperate with elections process, they are provided with enough equipment, the number is really quite enough, the number and the equipment will help the police to carry out its duty in different parts of Sudan and inside cities in an effective manner. We are taking precautionary measures, and this will continue during elections period, during voting, after the voting and when the results are announced.”

General Mohamed Ahmed Ali said that the federal police carried out several maneuvers with the Southern Sudan Police Force to ensure calm during the elections throughout Sudan.

Former Mediator Expresses Concern at Situation in Sudan
SRS (Sudan Radio Service) - Thursday April 8, 2010 (Nairobi)

The former chief mediator of the CPA, Lazarus Sumbeiyo told SRS in Nairobi on Thursday that current political situation in the whole of Sudan is unstable.

General Sumbeiyo is appealing to parties who are boycotting the elections to resolve their disagreements and to participate in the elections.

SPLM said it would boycott all elections in the north, except the central states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where it said it was sure to win

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir today claimed - just days ahead of national elections - that Khartoum was delaying demarcating the north-south border to try to retain control over oil reserves.

The SPLM said it would boycott all elections in the north, except the central states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where it said it was sure to win, despite the widespread fraud they accuse the NCP of committing.

Salva Kiir warns of Khartoum 'oil grab'
From News wires 07 April 2010 11:28 GMT (via upstream online):

Analysts said a failure to resolve the border issue between the former north-south foes could spark renewed conflict if the problem is not sorted before Africa's largest country holds a January 2011 referendum on independence for the south.

Last night Kiir's ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) said it would boycott Sudan's 11 April national elections, accusing Khartoum of widespread fraud.

"Why it is not demarcated is because there is oil and the north wants to take the oil, they want also to take the agricultural land we have so it becomes their land," Reuters quoted Kiir telling voters at a rally in the southern Lakes State.

Sudan's potential 500,000 barrels per day of oil from wells mostly in the south inflamed a 22-year-long civil war between the SPLM and the northern National Congress Party which ended with a 2005 peace deal.

Under the accord, south Sudan receives about 50% of government oil revenues from wells in the south but the opaque distribution of cash has been a source of much contention.

Oil revenues accounts for an estimated 98% of semi-autonomous south Sudan's budget. Many of the oilfields lie on the north-south border.

Analysts said the north-south border demarcation is key to successful talks between the two sides on post-referendum wealth sharing of oil and water from the River Nile.

Hundreds of supporters greeted Kiir on the campaign trail for the south Sudanese presidency, waving banners and kicking up dust in celebratory dances in the small Yirol town, which has few permanent buildings like much of the south devastated by the war. Several white bulls were slaughtered in his honour.

The SPLM said it would boycott all elections in the north, except the central states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, where it said it was sure to win, despite the widespread fraud they accuse the NCP of committing.

The move has sparked confusion among Sudan's opposition. Some have also boycotted but others are continuing in the race, although they all agreed with the concerns over irregularities.

Kiir also accused Sudan's President Omar Hassan al Bashir of refusing to form commissions to oversee the southern referendum and another vote for the citizens of the oil-rich Abyei area to choose whether to join the north or south.

"They don't want the south to stand alone," he said, speaking in his native Dinka, the language of the south's largest tribe. "The intention is to take over the land so they will control everything."

SPLM Boycotts Elections in 13 of 15 Northern States
From SRS - Sudan Radio Service:

7 April 2010 - ( Khartoum) – The SPLM has announced that it is boycotting elections in 13 states in northern Sudan due to what it calls “widespread rigging” of elections by the National Congress Party.

SPLM secretary-general Pagan Amum addressed a press conference in Khartoum on Tuesday night.

[Pagan Amum]: “I would like to inform you that our committee that was set up by the leadership of the SPLM yesterday [Monday] has finished its meeting with the leaders of SPLM in the Northern Sector and after reviewing all the reports from all the thirteen states of the Northern Sector, we have arrived at a conclusion and a decision to boycott elections in the thirteen states of northern Sudan. These include the three states of Darfur because in Darfur, war still continues and the state of emergency is imposed. It is impossible to conduct free and fair elections in a state of emergency as it is continuing there. The SPLM calls for an end to the war in Darfur and the end of the state of emergency so that the people of Darfur can participate in the elections in an environment of freedom where they can choose their own government in their states as well as participate in the elections of their government at the national level.”

Amum called on SPLM supporters to completely boycott parliamentary and governorship elections in the thirteen states in northern Sudan.

[Pagan Amum]: “The SPLM is boycotting elections in the remaining states of northern Sudan which are: the Northern State, Nile Valley State, Khartoum State, Al-Gazira State, Northern Kordofan State, White Nile State, Sennar State, Gadarif State, Kassala State and Red Sea State. We boycott these elections and the SPLM will continue calling for free and fair elections, calling for the handing over of political power to the Sudanese people through free and fair elections. And therefore our boycott continues. We will be calling on our people to boycott these elections until an environment for free and fair elections, where our people can choose their government, is created.”

He added that though the SPLM is boycotting elections in thirteen states in northern Sudan, the SPLM will take part in elections in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan and southern Sudan.

The Sudan general elections are scheduled to take place on 11th, 12th and 13th April 2010.

Upcoming Sudanese Elections Reflect Complex Political Problems
From Vatican Radio:

(07 Apr 10 - RV) The credibility of Sudan’s first multiparty elections in years continues to be cast in doubt, with Southern Sudan's main political party announcing it will boycott the ballot appointment scheduled for the weekend. The Sudanese People's Liberation Movement says it is withdrawing its candidates from the northern states for the April 11 vote, which includes local as well as parliamentary and presidential polls, because of alleged government control of the media and biased legislation that make an honest vote impossible.

Fr. Sean O’Leary of the South Africa-based Denis Hurley Peace Institute told us the elections are only one element in a very large and complex political problem facing the entire region.

Darfur ready for elections says Nafie

Darfur Ready for Elections Says Nafie
From SRS - Sudan Radio Service:

7 April 2010 - ( Khartoum) – The deputy chairman of the National Congress Party says that Darfur is ready for the elections.

Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie was reacting to claims by the SPLM and opposition parties that Darfur is not ready for the elections. They say that the state of emergency in the region will not allow for the conduct of free and fair elections.

Dr. Nafie claims that the voter registration exercise in Darfur was more successful that in most states in the country.

[Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie]: “We are telling the people of Darfur here in Khartoum that the registration in Darfur was much better than in other states of Sudan and the participation of Darfur in the coming elections will be higher than in many states of Sudan. Darfur will vote for the NCP.”

He also accused some individuals living in western countries of using Darfur to earn a living.

[Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie]: “A few individuals continue to trade on the Darfur case in western countries and in Washington, Britain, Holland and Belgium and Geneva. Those people are a few individuals from Darfur. As is the case for many Sudanese, they claim to represent the people of Darfur and they living off the name of Darfur, issuing political asylum identity cards in the name of Darfur and getting financial support from illegal companies.”

The deputy chairman of the NCP, Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie, was addressing a campaign rally in Khartoum on Tuesday.

President Bashir to grant Carter Centre unlimited access in Sudan - Carter Center denies Al-Bashir apology demand

Beshir to grant Carter Centre unlimited access in Sudan
From Middle East Online, Wednesday, 07 April 2010:

Sudanese President says decision is recognition to good things former US President did for his country.

KHARTOUM - Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir said on Wednesday he would grant former US president Jimmy Carter and his election observers unlimited access in the country during landmark elections that kick off Sunday.

"In two days, president Carter will arrive and I will receive him and will give him and his centre permission to go to any area of Sudan and to monitor any area in Sudan," Beshir told a rally north of Sudan, as the election campaign begins to wind down.

"This man did good things for us and we never forget the man who did good things for us," Beshir said in an address broadcast live on state television.

It appeared to be a shift in tone after repeated threats by Beshir to expel observers if they were believed "to interfere" in the electoral process.

Sudan is to hold its first multi-party general election since 1986 from April 9-11, which will include presidential, legislative and local polls.

Beshir has previously said he would silence any observers who "insult us", and he also warned that if observers "intervene in our affairs, then we will cut off their fingers and crush them under our shoes."

The American Carter Centre, the European Union, the African Union, the Arab League and Japan are all sending missions to Sudan.

The EU mission, the largest with 130 observers, said on Wednesday that it was considering pulling observers out of the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur because of security concerns.

Carter Center Denies Al-Bashir Apology Demand
From SRS - Sudan Radio Service, 7 April 2010:

(Juba) – The US elections monitoring body from the Carter Center has denied reports that they requested an apology from President Omar al-Bashir who threatened to expel them.

Since the beginning of this year, President al-Bashir has twice threatened to expel any foreign observers who demand the postponement of the elections.

Speaking to SRS on Wednesday from Juba, the Carter Center’s deputy director in Juba said they did not ask for any apology from the president.

[Sanne van den Bergh]: “We did not ask for an apology but we had asked for a clarification of the remarks that President al-Bashir had made and we also asked for a re-affirmation of our invitation as international observers, which we received. The rumor that that president Carter has been banned from Sudan is completely untrue as well as the other rumor that we are banned from 9 states of Sudan as international observers - that is also completely untrue.”

The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV, quoting unidentified sources, said that the Carter Center informed Khartoum about their intention to withdraw unless they receive a "written and public" apology from President al-Bashir.

Carter Center officials issued a report in March which warned that Sudan’s April presidential and legislative elections remained "at risk on multiple fronts" and urged Sudan to lift harsh restrictions on rallies.

EU considers withdrawing Darfur poll observers - EU election monitors pull out of Darfur: AFP reporter

THE people of Sudan have had five years to prepare for the elections April 11. Soon the rainy season will arrive in Sudan, making many roads impassable. If one considers the possibility that gun toting anti-government groups in Sudan are all part of one group aiming to topple the Sudanese government by force, surely any delay in Sudan's elections (part of the CPA) plays into their hands. As noted here last week, the Darfur elections can be held at a later date:

[Paul Wesson, UK election observer in Sudan]: “I think the issue is that in the whole country you have 17 million people having an election and the election should not be delayed because of the actions of a few thousands people in one area. But if there is no election in that area, then that can be dealt with at a later stage, but the important thing is to have elections for the 17 million people — yes, the electorate is 17 million people - and the tribal conflicts are carried by a few thousand people who perhaps don’t have the national picture in their minds. It is possible that if an election doesn’t take place in one state or in one constituency it could be held separately at a later stage. The important thing is that the main election takes place.”

Bearing in mind that 70% of Sudanese citizens are illiterate, and al-Qaeda and its ilk are in Sudan, I think the Sudanese government deserves credit for Sudan not turning into a Somalia.

It seems to me that recent threats by Sudan's president to cut off the noses, necks, fingers, etc., of those who demand that elections be delayed, are figures of speech. I can think of a few strange phrases used by Westerners that might seem threatening when translated into Arabic.

Here in England, a general election is scheduled for May 6. I live in an area where the party I shall be voting for could never win. But it does not discourage me from voting.

Many brave people have given their lives for our freedom to vote. Boycotting elections or abstaining from voting is an insult to those who fought for, and died for, our right to vote.

Talking about strange phrases, here's one that springs to mind when I think of Sudanese rebels who refuse to face elections: "Sh*t or get off the pot".

EU considers withdrawing Darfur poll observers
From Reuters by Andrew Heavens Wed Apr 7, 2010 9:43am GMT - excerpt:

(EL-FASHER, Sudan) - The European Union said on Wednesday said it was considering withdrawing its election observers from Sudan's Darfur region over fears for their safety and restrictions on their work. [...]

"We are considering withdrawing the observers (from Darfur)," said Veronique De Keyser, who heads the EU's election mission in Sudan. "The safety of some of the observers in some remote parts of the country is a very big concern for me. I am also concerned about our ability to observe."

"In some parts of Darfur the violence is terrible. The humanitarians cannot access this area. And if aid cannot access, we cannot access," she told reporters as she flew into el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to meet her six-strong team in the remote western region.

"We can only have a very partial view, so how can we observe properly in Darfur? The credibility of the mission is at stake. People have been asking how can you observe in Darfur, and this is a question I have to answer."

De Keyser said she was particularly worried after Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir threatened to expel international observers who pushed for a delay in the ballot. Bashir has threatened to cut off their fingers and tongues.

"You don't usually treat international observers you have invited like that. ... It doesn't reflect the traditional hospitality of the Arab world," she said. [...]

South Sudan's main party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, pulled out of elections in most north Sudan states on Tuesday, citing widespread fraud in the build up to the vote and the insecurity in Darfur.

Other small opposition parties have followed suit but the large Umma party on Wednesday was still discussing how far to follow suit.

De Keyser said it was too early to judge the impact of the withdrawals on the credibility of the elections.

Sudan Journalists Lament Lack of Civic Education in Up-coming Polls
Voice of America - Wednesday 07 April 2010
Manyang Mayum, a journalist with The Sudan Tribune denied reports that the elections could be postponed, saying that “if the election is pushed back, it will affect the referendum and hence the chances of secession.” Al-Bashir sent just such a message during a recent campaign stop.

EU election monitors pull out of Darfur: AFP reporter
EUbusiness.com 07 April 2010, 18:32 CET
(KHARTOUM) - European Union monitors stationed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur left the war-torn region on Wednesday ahead of Sunday's elections, said an AFP reporter travelling with them. "I have decided to go back with all the team of six observers that were still in Darfur," EU head of mission Veronique de Keyser told reporters on the plane.

UNMIS Radio Miraya: New drama series aimed at enlightening the public on the 11-13 April presidential and legislative elections in Sudan

Note that the national elections are provided for in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005, ending the conflict between northern and southern Sudan. The UN's mission in southern Sudan (UNMIS) is tasked with assisting both parties implement their commitments under the CPA.

Sudan: UN mission takes to the airwaves with civic education drama
From UN News Centre, 30 March 2010:

Photo: Ballot papers being transported to Upper Nile State elections logistics warehouse in Sudan

The United Nations Mission in Sudan is taking to the airwaves with a new radio drama series aimed at raising public awareness on various issues, including measures related to the ongoing process of implementing the peace accord that ended two decades of civil war in Africa’s largest country.

The series, ‘Tahed Shadjera Ardeb,’ Arabic for ‘Under the Tamarind Tree,’ can be heard on Radio Miraya, which is run by the mission, known as UNMIS. The initial programmes will dramatize themes aimed at enlightening the public on the 11-13 April presidential and legislative elections in Sudan.

The national elections are provided for in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005, ending the conflict between northern and southern Sudan.

The series will also tackle other themes, including domestic violence, the reintegration of former fighters into society and agriculture.

The programmes are produced in simple Arabic and broadcast on Radio Miraya’s southern and northern Sudan programming streams at 12:08 local time. Repeats can be heard in the evening.

Radio drama is considered an effective way of promoting debate on sensitive social and political issues in a compelling way, while also reaching populations with low literacy rates and who have limited access to information because they live in remote areas.

UNMIS runs Radio Miraya in partnership Fondation Hirondelle, a Swiss non-governmental organization (NGO).

Two decades of war between the Sudanese Government and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) left more than two million people dead and displaced an estimated four million others.

UNMIS is tasked with assisting both parties implement their commitments under the CPA.

Japan will dispatch an election observation team to Sudan

DISPATCH OF A JAPANESE ELECTION OBSERVATION TEAM FOR THE GENERAL ELECTIONS IN SUDAN
Source: Japan - Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Monday, 05 April 2010 (via pr-usa.net):

The Government of Japan will dispatch an election observation team to Sudan to assist free and fair elections to be conducted in the general elections in Sudan scheduled to be held from Sunday, April 11 to Sunday, April 18, 2010. The team will be headed by Mr. Yuichi Ishii, former Ambassador of Japan in Sudan, and composed of sixteen members including government officials and private experts.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in January 2005 put an end to the North-South civil war in Sudan, which had lasted for more than twenty years. The CPA stipulated the holding of the general elections in Sudan, where nation-wide elections have not been conducted over a long period of time. Therefore, the forthcoming general elections will be a very important milestone from the point of view of the democratization of Sudan as well as the implementation of the Agreement.

During the stay in Sudan, the election observation team will conduct monitoring in such activities as the preparation of the elections and the processes of voting and counting. The team also plans to exchange views and information with representatives of the National Election Commission, the Sudanese Government and other election observation teams, among others. Other countries and organizations such as the European Union, the African Union and a non-governmental organization of the United States are also sending observers to the elections.

To support the preparation and implementation of the general elections in Sudan, Japan extended assistance amounting to approximately ten million US dollars (approximately one billion Japanese yen) in October last year. Japan's dispatch of an election observation team is the manifestation of its cooperation for the democratization of Sudan not just in finance but also in the personnel area. Japan, bearing in mind a referendum in southern Sudan scheduled for January 2011, intends to make active efforts for peace and stability in Sudan.

France’s Kouchner critical of SLM’s Nur for rejecting Darfur peace process

Noteworthy Quote re SLM leader Abdel Al-Wahid Al-Nur

"For three years, the rebel leader Abdel Al-Wahid Al-Nur, to whom we offered hospitality, refuses to participate in this process. Nobody understands his stubbornness and his growing isolation is a barrier ... I recently explained for two of his main supporters in France, Bernard-Henri Lévy and André Glucksmann, the reasons for which this situation cannot be sustained any longer. Those who support him are mistaken both in the cause and perhaps also in the man."
-France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, 24 March 2010. (Source: see the following report)

France’s Kouchner critical of SLM’s Nur for rejecting Darfur peace process
From Sudan Tribune, Friday 26 March 2010:

March 25, 2010 (PARIS) — France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, criticized Darfur rebel leader Abdel Wahid Al-Nur for his rejection of the Doha peace process and advised his French friends to abandon him.



Photo: France’s foreign minister Kouchner embracing Darfur rebel leader Al-Nur in a meeting for Darfur organized by rights activists in Paris in April 2007 during the campaign of presidential election

The French doctor made these remarks in an opinion article published on Wednesday in the daily newspaper "Liberation" in response to an article written by Gilles Hertzog, a French journalist, saying Kouchner failed to implement his ideas in the fields of human rights, humanitarian action, and the responsibility to protect.

Speaking about what he achieved since his appointment on May 17, 2007, Kouckner insisted on his action for Darfur. He stressed he had instigated and organized the international conference on Darfur in Paris some months after his appointment, the EUFOR troops deployed in Chad to protect Darfur refugees, and the UN Security Council resolution 1769 relative to the hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur (UNAMID).

The French minister, who seemingly had been affected by the tough criticism of his friend Gilles Hertzog, further said he supported the efforts exerted by Qatar and the Joint Chief Mediator to end the conflict in Darfur. Kouchner hailed "the (framework) agreement" signed by Sudanese government and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement on February 23.

In turn, he criticized Abdel Wahid Al-Nur for refusing to join the peace process in Doha pointing an accusing finger to his "stubbornness and his growing isolation".

"For three years, the rebel leader Abdel Al-Wahid Al-Nur, to whom we offered hospitality, refuses to participate in this process. Nobody understands his stubbornness and his growing isolation is a barrier."

The minister further said he discussed the untenable situation recently with two of his supporters, the influential philosophers Bernard-Henri Lévy and André Glucksmann.

"I recently explained for two of his main supporters in France, Bernard-Henri Lévy and André Glucksmann, the reasons for which this situation cannot be sustained any longer. Those who support him are mistaken both in the cause and perhaps also in the man," Kouchner said.

Rights activists condemned the statements, saying they are very disappointed by what the minister said because he missed to mention the lack of security in Darfur even after the signing of a ceasefire with JEM rebels.

We are very disappointed with the position of the administration of President Sarkozy and his foreign minister Kouchner who praised the Doha process, said Jacky Mamou, the head of Collectif Urgence Darfour, which includes over 80 organizations NGOs.

"Article 1 of the framework agreement signed by the government and JEM which speaks about a cease-fire is already obsolete. The Sudanese army already bombed the Jebel Marra area causing huge casualties among civilians and forced tens of thousands to flee their villages."

Alluding to the principle of responsibility to protect that the French minister worked to be adopted by the UN General Assembly, Mamou said it is a “beautiful breakthrough,” but Darfur civilians do not benefit from it.

Abdel Wahid Al-Nur refuses to take part in the Doha process, instead asking the Sudanese government to first improve the security situation in Darfur. His troops recently fought against the government forces in the region and many rights activists slammed the silence of the international community over the surge of violence in Jebel Marra.

The rebel leader has been residing in France since more than three years, dating to before the election of President Sarkozy following the failure of the Abuja peace process and his refusal to sign a peace deal inked only by Minni Minnawi in May 2006. (ST)

8 Forum messages
26 March 06:16, by thieleling
Yes, Al-Nur is contradicting logic of winning a war atop the Eiffel Tower in France is appalling. It is simply a beautiful daydream. The man gets to be serious and visit his troops and the Darfur civilians in Jebel Marra. Otherwise, declare non-violence means and surrender your violence means around Jebel Marra. There is no way a rebel leader can win from living in luxuries in Paris. Who are you kidding? of course only yourself Mr. Al-Nur. Join DOHA for the sake of peace and justice for Darfur civilians. No agreement is ever perfect. it is always give and take.
Your disagreement with your rebel colleagues is more about who is weilding the power, and the leadership after peace process, not about the Darfuri welfare. Quit fooling yourself. Think about the gov’t teaming up with other rebels to dislodge your few troops left in Jebel Marra. The Israeli and Europeans would NOT do a thing after that. Please, think about your people, not your own selfish leadership aspiration.

26 March 08:33, by Aparana
I don’t like this picture, Couchner is kissing Abdelwahid like his wife, while Abdelwahid is responding like a homosexual-female. Ridiculous.
Aparana.

26 March 10:30, by Terror-hunter
Aparana
you are right this picture is not normal i think this bulls are gays so they want to enjoy themselves in the public.......let them celebrate their happiness in the room .

28 March 03:56, by abel sabit
This picture will turn all Sudenss particularly Durfur people to gay because is not really good for us to see our leaders kissing white people lips.. Its give us a bad feeling this is homesaxual female..Addelwahid is a homesexual and we all know because we are from western world me and Addelwahid.. Please whoever post this picture let it be your least time to post this kind of picture ..Have a closser look people to see hw the are hold themselve..By General Mayojlok

28 March 06:13, by abel sabit
what is wrong with Darfur rebel leader ? is it another way of ressolving Darfour conflict by kissing white leaders. shame on you Al- Nur enjoy your gay friendship and keep it as your personal privacy.

26 March 08:53, by telfajbago
Those we support the just cause of Darfur and the only veteran revolutionary who knows well how to lit a fire under the ass of Khartoum’s Islamists Wahid are not mistaken Mr. foreign minister, since until the writing of this comment he has never shown any slight traits of opportunism or inclination to let his supporters down and that is why Kouchner the people of Darfur and in particular will die his supporters .Furthermore; I do not know whether Kouchner and like-minded people knew the fact that, today’s generation of the camps are 1000% radical than Abdul wahid and they will not accept any solution to the conflict, less than or which guarantee first stopping of their killing and that genocide will not occur in the future again, which will not and can not be possible except by the disarmament of the Janjaweeds( today they are fighting among themselves which gives more legitimacy to Wahid’s demand of disarming them as not only tools of current genocide but also as a potential threats to the regional peace and stability).Kouchner should come up clear and tell us what is the appropriate way to end the conflict through a just peace which will stop the genocide and address the root causes to the conflict ; instead of fending off his critics by Wahid’s stubbornness ( which is logical and reasonable because we do not want to put a lid in a volcano). Because the people of Darfur will not accept a solution which meant continuation of their death or genocide, sugar-coated with bilateral deals, even if the negotiation is to be held. in France or U.S leave alone in a country like Qatar

26 March 15:27, by Time1
Ha ha ha
What is going on in that picture between Al Nur and Kouchner, or the picture is just not clear?
However no more love making, Al Nur needs to be serious, he needs to get out of Frances and come down to the region, stay in Chad and oversee activities from near by, he needs to identify what exactly is it they want, then start to get involve seriously in peace talks.

26 March 17:26, by the Voices of a losts
wow!!! if this picture is not mistaken which mean these two gentlemen are making its out kissing. wow!!! that is not right.

Further reading

French group urges pressures to stop violence on Darfur civilians
From Sudan Tribune (via ReliefWeb) 17 March 2010 - excerpt:

March 17, 2010 (PARIS) – A French group lobbying for an end to the conflict in Darfur today urged Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to put pressure on the Sudanese government to stop violence on civilians in Jebel Marra.

The Collectif Urgence Darfour (Darfur Emergency Group) asked Kouchner to mobilize European allies and demand to the Sudanese government to stop deadly attacks on civilians in Jebel Marra.

They also asked to mobilize the UN Security Council to condemn these attacks and allow humanitarian aid to reach the affected civilians.

In a similar move they called on Ban Ki-Moon to ensure that the United Nations demand of the Sudanese government that it stop the attacks and put its actions in line with its stated commitment for peace in Darfur.

Jacky Mamou, the head of the group which includes over 80 organizations, deplored the silence of French government and international community before the attacks in the region saying the continuation of violence is "unacceptable" while Khartoum asserts "the war is over in Darfur".

French activists urge EU to withdraw election observers from Sudan
From Sudan Tribune, Wednesday, 7 April 2010:

April 6, 2010 (PARIS) — Darfur advocacy activists in France appealed on the European Union (EU) and French government to not support the electoral process in Sudan and to withdraw electoral observers sent recently there.



Photo: Activists of Grifna (meaning We Are Fed Up), an opposition youth movement, carry banners during a demonstration outside the National Election Commission in Sudan’s capital Khartoum April 6, 2010. (Reuters)

Sudan will hold next Sunday multiparty elections for the first time since 1986, among calls for delay and boycott from opposition forces while divergences and frictions are growing within the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the main partner of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), announced its decision to not participate in northern Sudan election and withdrawn its candidate for Sudan president.

"European Union and French government should not support these iniquitous and immoral elections” said Jacky Mamou, president of the Collectif Urgence Darfour, an umbrella of 80 French NGOs, in a press conference held Tuesday in Paris.

"We call upon the international community and the French government to withdraw their electoral observers because they would support fraudulent elections” he further said stressing that such participation in the election monitoring would help to legitimize the "anti-democratic" process there.

Carter Center, European Union, African Union and Arab League other countries or organizations dispatched teams to monitor the first multiparty election in Sudan since 24 years. The process is provided in the comprehensive peace agreement in order to ensure democratic transition in the country at the end of transitional period.

Mamou also said the international community has to press for the delay of election and boost ongoing efforts to end the seven years conflict in western Sudan region of Darfur.

Alarmed by the surge of violence in Darfur and the recent waves of displacements in the restive region the rights French groups regretted the international silence over government attacks in Jebel Marra. The Collectif had sent a protest letter to the French foreign minister earlier this month urging him to condemn the military operations there.

The results of the fifth population and housing census conducted in May 2008 were used to draw electoral districts and organize the voter registration.

The Executive Director of Darfur Relief and Documentation Center Abdelbagi Jibril, briefed the press on the fifth population census saying millions of Darfur IDPs and civilians were excluded from the most politicized counting operation in the history of the Sudan.

He also said the results of the census tripled the number of Arab tribes, loyal to the NCP, in Darfur, underlining the data collected during the population census will be the basis for re-distribution of political power and repartition of economic wealth.

Simon Dumoulin, President of Vigilance Soudan, stressed that the SPLM, the NCP partner and ruling party in southern Sudan, denounced an electoral process largely marred by irregularities and lack of transparency. (ST)

Soudan
From France – Ministry of Foreign Affairs
PARIS, France, 6 avril 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Actualités diplomatiques du ministère français des Affaires étrangères / Point de presse du 2 avril 2010.

(Avez-vous une réaction au retrait des partis d’opposition au Soudan pour les prochaines élections. Cela ne risque-t-il pas de mettre en péril le processus global que vous soutenez ?).

Nous suivons avec préoccupation la situation préélectorale au Soudan et nous souhaitons que les élections puissent se tenir dans les meilleures conditions. A ce titre, nous appelons le gouvernement et l’ensemble des parties au dialogue et à la retenue pour assurer le bon déroulement de ces élections. Nous pensons que l’heure n’est pas à se retirer du dialogue mais au contraire, l’heure est à l’engagement et à une prise de responsabilité par tous les acteurs en présence de manière à ce que ces élections soient un succès pour le pays et pour la démocratie.

JEM trying to establish themselves in Kulbus and Jabel Moon which is a violation of the ceasefire declaration

Noteworthy Quote

"JEM was founded not for engaging in peace agreements, it was founded to change the government in Sudan, and it will continue to do so." - JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim, 31 March 2010 (Source: SRS)

- - -

Sudan, Darfur rebels exchange blame over ceasefire
From Reuters (Khartoum) Mon Apr 5, 2010 10:15am EDT - extract:

The insurgent Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) told Reuters that Sudan's army bombed its positions in Darfur, close to the Chad border, from midnight through Monday morning, wounding six civilians and killing their livestock.

Sudan's army denied launching any attacks on JEM and a senior government official accused the rebels of seizing new territory in the remote western region, against the terms of the same agreement.

"The bombing started at midnight and continued this morning ... These people (the government) are not interested in finding a political solution to the problem," said JEM spokesman Ahmed Hussein Adam, speaking from Qatar by phone.

Adam said government planes bombed JEM positions around the North Darfur areas of Abu Hamra, Furawiya and Jabel Moun.

He said the rebel force was "considering its position" over future talks but there were no immediate plans to walk out of negotiations.

Sudan dismissed JEM's accusations. "The Sudanese Army is committed to the ceasefire it has signed with JEM. It has not bombed any JEM positions," an army spokesman told Reuters.

Khartoum's main Darfur negotiator Ghazi Salaheddin said JEM has been looking to take more territory.

"They (JEM) have been fanning out in the area and trying to establish themselves in Kulbus and Jabel Moun which is a violation of the ceasefire declaration," Salaheddin told reporters in Khartoum.

Darfur's under-equipped joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force said it could not confirm whether any fighting took place. "We are not present in the area so we can not confirm," UNAMID spokesman Noureddine Mezni told Reuters.

(Reporting by Andrew Heavens and Khaled Abdelaziz; Editing by Matthew Jones)

Sudan army denies attacking rebels in Darfur
From AFP, Monday, 05 April 2010 - extract:

"Ten civilians were wounded," said Adam, who is in the Qatari capital, Doha, where representatives of the Sudanese government and the JEM are holding peace talks.

The attacks were a "violation of the ceasefire," said Adam about a truce struck between the two sides in February. He also charged that the government "was not serious about the peace process."

An army spokesman dismissed Adam's account as "completely inaccurate."

"We did not conduct any attacks. And JEM is not supposed to have a presence in the areas where he says we attacked," Sawarimi Khaled Saed said.

"If that is the case, it would constitute a violation of the February agreement," he said.

Sudan's NEC chairman begins 4-day tour to North and South Kordofan and the three States of Darfur

Abil Alier to Leave for Kordofan and Darfur States
From Sudanese Online (SUNA), Monday, 05 April 2010:

Khartoum, April 4 (SUNA) - Chairman of the National Elections Commission, Abil Alier, Monday is due to begin Monday a four-day tour to North and South Kordofan and the three States of Darfur to get informed on the latest arrangements for the coming stages of voting, vote counting and declaration of the results in the election process.

Alier will be accompanied during the tour by the member of the commission, Dr. Mukhtar Al-Assam and the two national experts, Mohamed Al-Fadil and Al-Sir Ahmed Babiker

An official source at the National Elections Commission said that Deputy Chairman of the commission, Prof. Abdalla Ahmed Abdalla, accompanied by the national expert Bushra Ahmed Al-Sheikh, are due to leave for Nahral-Neil and the Northern States on April 8 to be informed on the ongoing preparations for holding the election process

The source indicated that member of the National Elections Commission, Dr. Mahasin Hajal-Safi, and the national expert, Osman Haj Al-Zaki, would leave on April 6 for the States of Great Bahral-Ghazal, Buhairat and Warap to inspect the preparations for the coming voting stage.

He said that member of the commission, Gen. (police) Abdalla Al-Hardallo, and the national expert, Khalil Hassan Khalil, will leave on April 6 for Wohda and Jongli States, while member of the commission Flister Baya and the national expert Baha-Eddin Al-Sayed will leave for Western and Eastern Equatoria States to be informed on the arrangement for the coming stage of the election process.

Mayardit FM radio station launched on 13 March 2010 in Turalei, Sudan

Internews Sudan launched its fifth community radio station, Mayardit FM, at a ceremony March 13 in Turalei, Sudan.

Internews' project, "Radio for Peace, Democracy and Development in South Sudan," began in 2006 and is funded by the US Agency for International Development.

A Village in Sudan Gets its Own Radio Station
Source: Internews Network Inc.
Date: 02 Apr 2010

(April 2, 2010) Internews Sudan launched its fifth community radio station at a ceremony March 13 in Turalei, Sudan.

"The goal of the radio station is to inform all of the people that can listen to it about issues that are vitally important to them: about issues of health [and] education, issues of civic engagement around the [Comprehensive Peace Agreement], voting, all of these kinds of things," said Gordon Mangum, the Internews Sudan country director.

Mangum spoke at the launching ceremony along with the Warrap State governor, the Turalei commissioner, the state minister of information, a Mercy Corps representative, and a local pastor. About 200 local residents also visited the radio station compound for the launch.

Mayardit FM is staffed by five local Sudanese journalists. One of the journalists, David Deng Bol, manages the station as radio station coordinator.

The reporter team collectively produces five hours of original programming each week on topics like agriculture, HIV/AIDS, youth, government, and sports. They also produce a daily news bulletin about local events in their community.

"Communication [is] very, very rare [in Sudan]. No televisions. No newspaper. No nothing," said John Thuc Madut, one of the station's reporters. "This radio now is a new radio and also we can broadcast through our language. And we can first give information to the community."

The station broadcasts in Dinka, Arabic and English, the three languages most commonly used in the community. Mangum stressed that the station belongs to the local residents.

"The radio station belongs to everyone in these areas, regardless of their tribe or their political party or their religion or any other way that we talk about ourselves. It belongs to all of us together," he said. "Now more than ever, people really need civic education."

In 2005 after nearly four decades of civil war between the north and south, a peace accord was signed with the promise of elections in April 2010 and an independence referendum for the south in January 2011. The elections will be the first in Sudan in 24 years.

Turalei resident Peter Qwash Malek, who attended the radio station launch, said the broadcasting center will serve a critical role during the polling.

"It will be so important for us to have it because when the election will take place," he said. "It will need people also to get some new words or some words from outside from those people who are in far places, because, by that time, everybody will be out voting. And when there will be some questions or some difficulties that can face them outside, [they] can be simply reported to the radio station."

Planning for the radio station started nearly a year ago. The reporters received about four months of training from Internews Sudan's resident journalism advisor Sammy Muraya, an award-winning Kenyan journalist. Among other things, he taught the journalists how to produce news and produce programs.

Mayardit FM reporter Christine Akuol produces two half-hour shows each week, one on agriculture and another on women's issues. She said she most enjoys her women's program.

"We here in Dinka culture, the women, they don't have a right voice," she said. "I like so that I can educate women, to bring them, and I can empower our community so that they know the rights of the girl or they know how the best girl should be educated. "

"There are some people who say that whenever you educate a woman, that means you educate a nation. So we can really to bring up our people," she said.

Akuol said people in her community are happy because they know the radio station will give them a voice.

"As soon as we have the radio, everything will be easy. We will stop any problems between communities. We will bring them up right now. They will grow as a people," she continued.

Mangum said he hopes that in addition to the Mayardit FM reporters passing on information to the community, the local community stays involved with the station.

"We've had such a warm welcome here," Mangum said in his speech at the launching ceremony. "We already feel part of the community and we look forward to being part of your community for a long time in the future."

Internews' project, "Radio for Peace, Democracy and Development in South Sudan," began in 2006 and is funded by the US Agency for International Development.

SUDAN: Saving animals to save lives - Radio programmes advise farmers on what to do if their animals are sick

SUDAN: Saving animals to save lives
MALAKAL, Southern Sudan, Monday, 05 April 2010 (IRIN):

Photo: Indian peacekeepers help treat a cow at a mobile vet clinic at Mayom, Unity state (Peter Martell/IRIN)

As a region still recovering from years of brutal civil war and battling inter-ethnic clashes and food insecurity, Southern Sudan would appear to have bigger worries than animal welfare.

But when so many people rely on animals for their survival, improving their health and tackling rising death rates is of critical importance, veterinarians say.

“People’s lives depend on animals but the services for them are very few,” said Sukhir Singh, a vet, who runs a basic but busy animal clinic in the dusty Southern Sudanese town of Malakal, capital of the underdeveloped but oil-rich Upper Nile state.

“Most cannot afford even the drugs that are available,” added Singh, a lieutenant colonel in the Indian army, which runs the animal unit as part of the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan (UNMIS) operations.

Long lines of cows and donkeys arrive each day for free treatment. Their owners are in no doubt about the benefits of this service.

“I have two donkeys but this one is sick,” said Yahir Adam Hassan, who delivers river water in converted oil drum carts pulled by the donkeys. “I don’t have enough money to pay for treatment, so without help, I would lose my livelihood.”

Sudanese students help the Indian vets, who provide training for students and community animal health workers, who then take their skills to more remote areas.

Most patients are working animals – cows, donkeys, horses, as well as sheep and goats – but one young boy carries in his thin puppy for treatment too. A goat with a broken leg has its limb cast in plaster, while the dog gets an injection to kill internal parasites.

The clinic has treated more than 55,000 animals since 2006, with a second opening this February in Bor, the state capital of Jonglei, Singh said.

Wealth and death

Cows represent wealth and status for many people in Southern Sudan and are the source of regular raids and revenge attacks.



Photo: Sudanese students putting a cast on a sheep's broken leg in Malakal More than 450 people have been killed in inter-communal clashes in the South this year, after 2,500 were killed in 2009, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Southern Sudan. (Peter Martell/IRIN)

Poor or badly timed rains, combined with insecurity, have also affected animal health, with organizations now boosting efforts to vaccinate cattle in an attempt to cut rising rates of infection.

“People primarily depend on livestock for their income, and the death rate among animals has been rising steadily,” the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a 16 March statement.

“Drugs to treat sick animals are either prohibitively expensive or unavailable in the local markets,” the ICRC added, warning that many animals had not been vaccinated since 2006.

“In order to alleviate the hardship of both resident and displaced communities it has now become crucial to improve the health of their animals.”

It is working alongside Veterinarians without Borders to vaccinate 50,000 cattle before rains close roads to many areas. More than 30,000 have already been vaccinated, including in the remote and swampy Pibor county area of Jonglei state. The campaign is targeting four major cattle diseases, including pneumonia.

“The animals – mainly cows – are not only a source of food and milk but are also used for trading,” the ICRC said. “The loss of wealth makes it increasingly difficult for pastoralists to meet their families' needs.”

The few centres such as Malakal’s clinic are therefore highly valued.

When heavy fighting broke out in February 2009 between Northern and Southern soldiers in the town, nearby university buildings were badly damaged by tank and mortar shells, but the clinic was spared.

“People did not want to destroy this [the clinic],” said John Malak, who had brought his cow to be treated. “They said, ‘This is something that is for everybody’.”

Many travel long distances to reach it.



Photo: Waiting for a vet in Malakal, capital of Upper Nile state “I live across the other side of the river, so I had to bring my cow across by boat,” said Peter Augustine, a cattle herder. (Peter Martell/IRIN)

Mobile clinics

The team also runs mobile clinics in more remote areas, treating more than 8,000 animals over the past year.

Outside Mayom in Unity state, the vets erect a tent, and Indian soldiers and cattlekeeping boys work together to put cows into a restraining pen for the vet to examine.

“Many have problems with worms, ticks and other parasites,” said Singh, injecting a cow to kill internal worms, one of more than 280 cows, sheep and goats treated in the two-day camp.

“It takes a little while for the message to get out that we are here,” said Singh. “But once the first animals have been treated, the news travels very quickly and many more come.”

The centre also provides training for community animal health workers, who can provide basic advice to improve livestock health across wide areas.

Radio programmes also advise to farmers on how to prevent diseases – and what to do if they think their animals are sick.

Reminder: Millions of homeless people in forgotten cities

While Sudanese rebels refuse to face elections, click here for a reminder of millions of homeless people and children living in forgotten cities.



Quote of the Year

"Thatched huts are upgraded into slums. Camp dwellers start exchanging belongings amongst themselves. Barter develops into markets. People try to make a living through prostitution and crime. Idleness fosters addiction to alcohol and drugs. Combatants come to hide themselves for a while within the camp and recruit youngsters for their militias. People in the camps start organizing themselves. The camps develop into cities, with an economy, a power structure and increasing violence.

Camps are cities in suspense. They suffer from shortages of water and sanitation, shaky food deliveries, oscillating relief assistance, despotic rulers, lawlessness and insecurity, both around the camp and inside."

-Professor Jan Pronk, October 2009

Easter Day service at Episcopal church of Sudan, Khartoum

Photo: A Sudanese boy looks on during an Easter Day service at the Episcopal church of Sudan in Khartoum April 4, 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin)



Photo: A Sudanese priest attends an Easter Day service at the Episcopal church of Sudan in Khartoum April 4, 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin)



Photo: Bishops take part in an Easter Day service at the Episcopal church of Sudan in Khartoum April 4, 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin)



Photo: Easter Day service at the Episcopal church of Sudan in Khartoum April 4, 2010. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin)

Ghana's Kufuor leads a 51-member AU team to monitor Sudan’s elections

Ghana's former President John Agyekum Kufuor is expected to leave Accra Saturday evening (April 03) for Khartoum, Sudan, as the head of a 51-member high-powered delegation of the African Union (AU), to observe and monitor general elections in that country scheduled for 11th – 13th April 2010.

The African Union (AU) mission will join other electoral monitoring and observer teams from the United States, the European Union and China.



Photo: Ghana's former President John Agyekum Kufuor

Kufuor leads AU team to monitor Sudan’s elections
Report by Myjoyonline.com, Saturday, 3 April 2010, 10:10 GMT:

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor is expected to leave Accra Saturday evening for Khartoum, Sudan, as the head of a 51-member high-powered delegation of the African Union (AU), to observe and monitor general elections in that country scheduled for 11th – 13th April 2010.

A statement signed by Frank Agyekum, Spokesperson of former President Kufuor, said Mr Kufuor is leading the delegation at the invitation of the AU.

The delegation is made up of representatives of the Pan–African Parliament including Edward Doe Adjaho, First Deputy Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament. It is also made up of Electoral Management Bodies from across the continent, Civil Society Organizations and African Human Rights Organizations.

The AU mission will join other electoral monitoring and observer teams from the United States, the European Union and China.

The elections to choose a President and Members of the Sudan National Assembly, brings to an end the transitional period which began when the decades-long Second Sudanese Civil War ended in 2005.

The AU team is to make an independent and impartial observation of the electoral process in line with the Union’s guidelines on election observation.

They will among others determine whether conditions existed for voters to freely express their will and evaluate the level of fair and equitable access to the media by the contending political parties.

From Khartoum, President Kufuor will go to San Francisco, in the US, as Chair of the Governing Council of Interpeace, the global peace organization, to attend the Ninth Annual Global Philanthropic Forum.

The Forum brings together about 500 leading philanthropic organizations from the across the world engaged in international development and humanitarian causes.

It aims to build a community of donors and social investors committed to international causes and to inform, enable and enhance the strategic nature of their giving and social investment.

During the meeting, former President Kufuor will have a live television conversation to be beamed across the world with Mrs Loiuse Arbour, Country Representative of the International Crises Group and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Former President Kufuor is expected back by the end April, 2010.

US envoy Gration says Sudan vote would be as "free and as fair as possible"

US special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration said on Saturday [April 03] he was confident Sudan's first general elections since 1986 would be as "free and fair as possible" and would start on time on April 11.

"They (electoral commission members) have given me confidence that the elections will start on time and they would be as free and as fair as possible," said Gration.

"These people have gone to great lengths to ensure that the people of Sudan will have access to polling places and that the procedures and processes will ensure transparency," he said.

On Wednesday, Yasser Arman, the presidential candidate for the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement, withdrew from race after Beshir ruled out delaying the vote.

"I took the decision to withdraw for two reasons. Firstly, after having campaigned in Darfur, I realised that it was impossible to hold elections there due to the current state of emergency," he told AFP.

"Secondly, there are irregularities in the electoral process which is rigged."

Arman said, however, that the SPLM will field candidates in regional and legislative elections "across Sudan, except for Darfur."

Full story by Guillaume Lavallee (AFP) Khartoum, ‎Saturday, 03 April 2010:
Sudan vote free and as fair as possible: US envoy



Photo: U.S. envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, smiles as he leaves after his meeting with vice secretary general of the national elections commission Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah in Khartoum, April 3, 2010. One of Sudan's largest opposition parties said on Friday it would boycott presidential, legislative and gubernatorial polls if government did not meet demands, including a four-week postponement, within four days. (Reuters/Zohra Bensemra)



Photo: Vice secretary general of the national elections commission Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah talks to reporters after his meeting with U.S. envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, in Khartoum, April 3, 2010. (Reuters/Zohra Bensemra).



Photo: U.S. envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration, talks to reporters after his meeting with vice secretary general of the national elections commission Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah in Khartoum, April 3, 2010. (Reuters/Zohra Bensemra)

Related reports

'No delay' for Sudan's national elections
BBC News - Saturday, 3 April 2010 13:01 UK

Sudan Says Election to Start on Time Despite Protest
New York Times - By Opheera McDoom (Reuters) KHARTOUM - Saturday, 3 April 2010