U.S. Says Sudan's 2010 Elections in Doubt

U.S. Says Sudan's 2010 Elections in Doubt

Sudan may be unable to hold credible elections in coming months because the ruling party and opposition cannot agree on ground rules for the polls, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.
28 November 2009
WASHINGTON, 27 Nov 2009 (Reuters) -At the end of a trip to Sudan by President Barack Obama's special envoy Scott Gration, the State Department said it saw little movement on issues such as voter registration and border delineation between Khartoum and the semi-autonomous South - endangering plans for national elections in April 2010 and a referendum on southern succession in 2011.

"Without immediate resolution of these disputes, we are concerned about the chances for conducting credible elections and referenda," it said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, the parties have not yet demonstrated the political will necessary to achieve resolution on these difficult and sensitive issues."

Gration's trip to Sudan was his first since Washington announced in October it would keep economic sanctions on Sudan but would also offer Khartoum new incentives to end violence in Darfur and the South.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), former southern rebels who are now junior partners in the governing coalition under the terms of a 2005 peace deal, have accused the North of stalling on a democratic transformation and undermining plans for free elections.

The SPLM and other parties said on Wednesday they would delay a decision on whether to boycott April's elections in part due to a week-long extension of the voter registration period.

The strains have raised fears the north-south civil war- fueled by issues including religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology between mostly Christian southern rebels and the Islamist Khartoum government - could reignite.

Gration visited voter registration centers and urged people to sign up for the polls "as it is the only way for the Sudanese people to maintain their right to participate in the national elections in April 2010," the statement said.

He also visited Darfur, where the United Nations says more than 2 million people were driven from their homes and some 300,000 people died in a crisis that saw non-Arab militias take up arms against the central government. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.

Gration's meetings concentrated on the security situation along the Chad-Sudan border, with the State Department noting lawlessness and banditry were heightening tensions yet again.

"Addressing these ongoing security concerns is crucial for achieving a lasting peace in Darfur," the statement said.

(Reporting by Andrew Quinn; editing by David Alexander and John O'Callaghan)

AU Security Council assures to respect people’s choice in South Sudan referendum

Friday 27 November 2009 03:30.

By James Gatdet Dak

November 26, 2009 (JUBA) – The African Union’s Peace and Security Council has pledged to respect the choice of the people of Southern Sudan in the outcome of the referendum on secession scheduled to take place in January 2011.


AU Peace and Security Council ambassadors (R) meeting with South Sudan cabinet (L), Juba, November 26, 2009 (Photo by James G. Dak, ST)
Peace and Security Council is the body charged with the responsibility to deal with peace and security in Africa.

The Council’s delegation comprising 15 ambassadors of the African Union arrived in Juba on Wednesday to assess the security situation in Southern Sudan in particular and implementation of the 2005 North-South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in general.

They met with the Government of Southern Sudan’s cabinet in a meeting chaired by the Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny.

The Peace and Security Council delegation was headed by the organization’s ambassador for Rwanda, Professor Joseph Nsengimana.

The delegation was briefed by the cabinet about the current general situation in the country, urging it to be vigilant as the country enters into major political events.

The meeting mostly dwelled on the issues of elections, referendum for Southern Sudan and Abyei and popular consultations for both Southern Blue Nile and Southern Kordufan.

The delegation assured the government of the African Union’s position to respect the choice of the people of Southern Sudan in the referendum.

The meeting also stressed the need to bring peace to Darfur and participate in the democratic transformation in the country.

The people of Southern Sudan will choose between confirming the current unity of Sudan and creating an independent country in January 2011.

Kiir urges Uganda to lead recognition of independent South Sudan

Thursday 26 November 2009 05:30.

By Ngor Arol Garang

November 25, 2009 (JUBA) — General Salva Kiir Mayardit, First Vice-President of the Republic of Sudan and President of the semi-autonomous region of Southern Sudan, has on Wednesday 24, in both Moyo and Adjumani Districts of Uganda, urged Ugandans to lead recognition of the independent state of South Sudan if referendum votes favor secession.


Sudan’s First Vice President speaking at Moyo, northern Uganda on Tuesday 24 November 2009 (photo by Larco Lomayat)
"If referendum favors southern secession from the North to become an independent state, South Sudanese in Uganda expects Uganda to take the lead in recognizing South Sudan as an independent country if South Sudanese voted for secession in the 2011 referendum," Kiir said.

The Sudanese First Vice President, who left Juba for Uganda for bilateral talks on border dispute, after an official invitation from Ugandans President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, further said, Ugandans and Southern Sudanese are the same and one people.

"Ugandans and South Sudanese are people of one common objective; and that they have to work together so that they get set goals," he said.

Commenting on the issue of border disputes which necessitated his visit, he said misunderstanding arising from territorial rivalry should not divert us from the joint Southern Sudanese and Ugandan vision.

"I think we can find solutions to whatever misunderstanding that might have occurred," he commented saying South Sudanese in Northern Uganda and elsewhere in the country, should live with Ugandans as one people without giving in for ill separation, the President said. The same applies to Ugandans in any part of Southern Sudan, Kiir added.

Kiir is further said that the border conflict and insecurity in southern Sudan started after the peace agreement peace in 2005; it was not there during the war.

"Not only in Moyo (northern Ugandan near Sudan’s border) that we are having problems; there are also tribal wars in Southern Sudan; all these conflicts are happening because someone is behind them, their aim is just to create chaotic situations for reasons best known to them, that means there are some people who are working day and night so that there is instability in South Sudan. Let us not allow it. Let nobody agitate you so that you quarrel amongst yourselves," he stressed.

Kiir who seems turning his back on Sudan’s unity after four year of a peace deal signed with the National Congress Party in 2005, tried during his European tour to campaign in favor of separation and to draw EU support for southern Sudan independence.

However, last month his government dismissed remarks where he called for southern Sudan independence describing vote for a united Sudan as voting for "second class" citizenship.

Ugandan President, Yoweri Kaguta Musevesni, stressed that what is happening in the border area is not a dispute, "it is simply misunderstanding which will be handled and solved by the brothers and sisters of our two sister countries amicably." He is further reported having said misunderstanding