South Sudan Official Warns People Not Ready For January Vote
Peter Clottey 10 August 2010
The chief coordinator for the International Campaign Countdown to South Sudan’s referendum has expressed concerns about what he described as the referendum commission’s ill-preparedness to organize the scheduled January 9 vote.
Ambassador John Andruga Duku, south Sudan’s former envoy, says there are reasons to believe that Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) is undermining the referendum commission’s effort to organize next year’s referendum.
“We need a robust civic education to prepare the population to understand what they needed to do in this referendum. Because the referendum in south Sudan is a matter of life and death for the people of south Sudan, there is no second chance,” he said.
Analysts say the referendum commission seems to be running out of time to carry out civic educational campaigns ahead of the referendum.
Officials of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) have accused the NCP of a calculated ploy to undermine the upcoming referendum - a charge the ruling party denies.
AFP
Salva Kiir (L) VP and President of South-Sudan in Nairobi (File)
An official of the referendum commission recently called for a possible postponement of the January vote saying there wasn’t enough time to organize the referendum.
But, Ambassador Duku called on the international community to put more pressure on President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his ruling NCP to guarantee the referendum is not derailed.
“We also appeal to the international community to release the necessary resources required. We are very grateful to the United States of America for pledging $60 million for this process. But, this money remains just a figure. It is not filtering down to the people on the ground to do the actual work,” Ambassador Duku said.
As part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed between President Bashir’s government and the SPLM, the NCP will appoint the chairman of the referendum commission leaving the SPLM to appoint the general secretary.
But, Ambassador Duku said the NCP reneged on the agreement after appointing both the chairman, as well as the general secretary of the commission to the chagrin of the SPLM.
Senior officials of the NCP have insisted that the ruling party is committed to the full implementation of the rest of the provisions of the CPA.
End
FACTBOX-Obstacles to south Sudan's vote on independence
Reuters News
12 August 2010; 12:51 GMT
KHARTOUM, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Southern Sudanese are due to vote on whether to become Africa's newest nation state in less than five months, but a growing mountain of unsolved problems has raised doubts about the planned referendum.
The Jan. 9, 2011 plebiscite is the climax of a 2005 peace deal between the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP), ending Africa's longest civil war. The accord was supposed to ensure democratic transformation in Sudan.
Here are some of the issues which need to be resolved ahead of the vote.
BORDER
The northern NCP says there can be no referendum without demarcating the disputed north-south border, along which most of Sudan's oil wealth lies. The SPLM says the NCP has deliberately delayed border demarcation, due to have been completed by July 2005, and says the referendum is not conditional upon border agreement. Many fear this could spark a conflict if the south secedes -- as most believe it will. Neighbours Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a war over a tiny town of little economic significance. Sudan's estimated 6 billion barrels of crude reserves is a much larger prize.
DELAYS
The north-south partners in peace have bickered over implementing almost every part of the deal, and the South Sudan Referendum Commission was no exception. It was supposed to have been created in 2008 but was only announced at the end of June. That left the nine-member body just six months to arrange the complex vote which involves a separate registration process, supposed by law to have begun last month.
COMMISSION DISPUTES
The SPLM says the commission is deadlocked, unable to make key decisions like choosing a secretary-general to manage the budget. If the dispute over the post is not resolved within weeks, many fear time will have run out for the process. The commission has no office yet, and decisions on registration and voting papers have not been made. They will need to be printed and delivered from abroad and distributed to remote areas of south Sudan blocked by rains or lacking roads, adding to delays.
ABYEI REFERENDUM
The south Sudan referendum is meant to be held at the same time as a plebsicite in the disputed central oil-producing region of Abyei on whether to join the south or north. However the north-south partners have failed to agree on members of this referendum commission and are deadlocked. A ruling by the Hague-based Permanent Court for Arbitration on Abyei's borders has not been demarcated following threats by the nomadic Arab Missiriya in the north. The SPLM says the NCP is settling thousands of Missiriya in northern Abyei to influence the vote. The NCP denies this. But it is looking less likely this vote can happen alongside the southern referendum.
WHO CAN VOTE?
The law defining who can vote is so complex that even legal experts find it difficult to interpret. Few southern Sudanese are aware of whether they will be able to vote or where. Millions of southerners who live in the north or abroad should be eligible to vote but may not know it. Given the ethnic nature of registration, disputes about who is a southerner and eligible to vote are inevitable. After centuries of inter-marriage, many Sudanese who consider themselves northerners could well be eligible to vote as they have a southern grandparent.
SECURITY
A rise in tribal clashes in the heavily-armed south, mostly over cattle raids or ethnic rivalries, has raised concerns that many people may be unable to vote unless the SPLM-dominated south Sudan government can improve security outside main towns. The police lacks capacity to secure the south and the south Sudan army is still in transition from guerrillas into a regular force. Discipline is a problem. During April elections, the army was accused of intimidating voters and at times taking over counting or entire voting centres. Such actions could seriously affect the credibility of the sensitive referendum.
End
South Sudan referendum at risk over commission standoff says SPLM
Sudan Tribune website, Paris
13 August 2010
13 August, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The standoff between north and south Sudan over the appointment of a secretary-general to the commission tasked with organizing South Sudan’s referendum on independence from the north is threatening to derail preparations for the poll, according to secretary-general of the SPLM who govern south Sudan.
The referendum on southern independence is the linchpin of a 2005 peace deal between the SPLM and the NCP, which ended over two-decades of civil war. In the deal, known as the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the former enemies agreed to share power and grant autonomous rule to the south governed by the SPLM. Implementing the deal has been characterized by constant bickering and mutual distrust. The deal is due to end in January 2011, with referendum on southern self determination.
Pagan Amum, the secretary-general of the SPLM, said yesterday that process had been paralyzed by failure for the two sides to agree on who should head the referendum commission.
"The referendum commission clearly seems to have reached a deadlock in the process of selection of the secretary-general. The commission is now paralyzed, it is not working," Reuters quoted Amum as saying.
Amum warned that failure to overcome this obstacle within the coming two weeks means that the referendum “will meet its demise.”
The senior SPLM official expressed his concern over the comments of Tarek Osman Al-Tahir, a member of the referendum commission who on 9 August suggested that the poll be delayed to complete the necessary pre-referendum procedures.
"I am afraid there may be elements within the referendum commission that are actually planning a postponement, or in the worst case a total betrayal [of the right] to be exercised by the people of southern Sudan," AFP reported Amun as saying.
Although it was scheduled to be formed at the beginning of 2010, as per the CPA, the commission, which is responsible for running the referendum, was only appointed in June.
Explaining why a delay to the referendum is not an option for the south, Amum told Reuters, "the hopes and expectations of the people of south Sudan are so pinned on that date that it would be dangerous to postpone it because the level of frustration and disappointment would be so high for anybody to manage."
In an address to a rally held in Egypt four days ago, Pagan said he expected southerners would vote overwhelmingly in favor of secession, attributing this to “the failure in defining Sudan as an Arab Islamic state.”
Before the CPA, the NCP attempted to rule the whole of Sudan, including the mainly Christian south, under Islamic Shari’a Law.
“This error”, he said, “is what led the Sudanese state to war with all those who found themselves outside the purview of that definition.”
Appointing the commission’s secretary-general is not the only stumbling block for the referendum. The two partners have also failed to agree the demarcation of north-south border, which is made more controversial as Sudan’s main oil fields are located in the border area.
Most fields lie in the south and in the oil rich region of Abyei, whose residents are due to hold a simultaneous referendum on whether to join the south or the north.
Preparations for Abyei’s poll have also stalled along border demarcation disputes.
A UN source told Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity earlier this week that the issues of Abyei’s referendum could be largely resolved if greater resources where applied by the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) due its relatively small scale in comparison to the south.
Conducting the southern referendum considering the current deadlock and remaining timescale would be more of a challenge the source said as 64 additional UN sites have to be established in southern Sudan.
UNMIS is mandated to support the referendum whenever the SPLM and NCP agree to hold it, they said.
As it stands UNMIS is expected to bring in 600 additional staff to assist the two referenda.
According to the source, this could increase to 800 (as well as increasing the number of helicopters and vehicles needed) if issues such as appointing the southern referendum commissioner are not resolved in the next two weeks.
The referendum is expected to cost $100 million, with $60 million from the UN, $20 million from the Sudanese government and the last $20 million from bilateral donors such as the US, Canadian and Dutch governments the source said.
UN Development Program ‘basket fund’ for the referendum has already received over $25 million.
End
Unfinished Report On Mineral-rich Kafia Kini
Dear All,
An unedited draft of a forthcoming report from the Rift Valley
Institute (RVI) on Kafia Kingi, written by Edward Thomas, was
circulated in error earlier this week under the title "Between Darfur
and the South". Please do not quote this draft report or circulate it
further.
Thanks to all for your understanding.
From the RVI :
The finished version will be published and circulated in October, with
a related report by Douglas Johnson, "When Boundaries Become Borders",
covering the peoples of Sudan's north-south boundary zone (and areas
on Southern Sudan's international borders). The two titles are the
first volumes in the RVI's Contested Borderlands series. To join the
circulation list for these and other RVI publications, please write to
institute@riftvalley.net.
SUDAN: Thousands struggle to survive as Kalma aid cutoff
NAIROBI, 12 August 2010 (IRIN) - Humanitarian access to Kalma, the
largest settlement for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sudan's
Southern Darfur State remains cut off ten days after the government
blocked UN agencies and the last five NGOs still operating in the camp
from distributing food and medical aid to an estimated 82,000 IDPs.
Tensions in Kalma rose on 25 July, at the conclusion of the latest
round of peace talks in Doha, Qatar, with some IDPs claiming they were
not fully represented at the talks. Protests inside the camp pitted
those against the negotiations, belonging mostly to the Sudan
Liberation Movement (SLM) of Abdul-Wahid Mohamed Nur, and those
supporting it.
As a result of the unrest, six people, five men and a woman - all
IDPs representatives in the camp and opponents of the peace talks -
sought protection inside the premises of a community policing centre
(CPC) of the joint UN-AU Mission in Darfur peacekeeping force
(UNAMID).
On 2 August, while banning aid agencies from accessing the camp,
motivating the decision with the internationals' inability of
maintaining security inside the camp government, officials in South
Darfur also asked UNAMID to hand over the six people, suspected of
taking part in clashes.
At a press conference held in Khartoum at the beginning of this week,
the Governor of South Darfur State, Abdel Hamid Musa Kasha, disclosed
the government's intention to remove Kalma camp described as military
base and political platform for Abdel Wahid Al-Nur.
Yesterday, in a meeting held in Nyala, capital of South Darfur,
between the Joint UN-African Union Special Representative for Darfur,
Ibrahim Gambari, and Sudan Government Officials, GOS raised the issue
of joint patrols with UNAMID forces but no conclusion was yet reached
- Senior UNAMID Officials told IRIN.
Residents of Kalma camp had been resisting the presence of Sudanese
police inside the camp for the past six years. After the police tried
to enter the camp leaving 32 IDPs dead in August 2008, UNAMID
established policing center and organized patrols around the
settlements to protect its residents from nocturnal attacks by
militias.
Thousands without food, water and medicine
According to Samuel Hendricks, the spokesperson for the UN Office for
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Darfur, supplies of
drugs and medicine would need to be assessed to estimate how long they
can last but lack of food was already a major concern.
"The last food distribution would have been at the beginning of July.
Blanket feeding for children under five was scheduled to start at the
beginning of August, and General Food Distribution [GFD] this week,
but it all have been prevented by lack of access to the settlement"
Hendricks told IRIN.
Following the expulsion of 13 NGOs from Darfur in March 2009, Kalma
residents went for three months without food distribution.
"Obviously we would like to avoid a similar scenario," Hendricks said.
As no official population census was carried out in 2009 in any of
the IDP settlements in the Southern Darfur State (Kalma, Otash,
As-Salaam, Mershing, Al-Serif, Beleil, Al-Sheref, Um Lubassa, Mossei,
Sekele), no one really knows for certain how many people are in Kalma
camp. (link to: Sudan census and IDP camps/Kalma).
However, UN World Food Programme (WFP) sources said at least 82,000
people have been living the camp since 2003, having fled attacks by
Sudanese forces and proxy militia.
Details and data about the scale and scope of the humanitarian and
human rights crisis inside Kalma are difficult to assess as
journalists and independent observers have been denied access since
March 2009, and well before on many occasions.
Susannah Syrkin, the deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights,
US based organization promoting the monitoring of health-related human
rights, told IRIN she was concerned about the sanitation and hygiene
situation in Kalma as the camp is located in a natural declivity.
During the rainy season, she said, there is a serious drainage
problem.
The camp has 20 motorized water pumps and 28 hand-held pumps, with a
total delivery capacity of 1,700 m3 per day. The blockade imposed by
the government has also caused of lack of fuel for motorized pumps,
and as the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) confirmed, fuel supplies ran
out on 7 August.
Syrkin told IRIN that in 2009, when Kalma residents refused aid from
the government to protest the expulsion of international aid agencies,
there was not enough fuel for the main motorized water pumps, forcing
residents to resort to using the "few dozen" hand pumps available and
the nearby polluted river for their water supply.
Cp/[END]
CLICK ON LINK BELOW TO READ THE REPORT ONLINE
Http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=90149
Upcoming referenda "real tests" for Abyei people, southern Sudanese - commentary
Juba Post, Khartoum
12 August 2010; 09:59 GMT
Text of report in English by privately-owned Sudanese newspaper Juba Post on 12 August
JUBA - Southern Sudanese! What descriptive words are used to label black Sudanese in the context of a unitary Sudan? Black Sudanese are people whose national identities are either uncertain or engulfed by the Arab Sudanese identity. This is because Sudan, as a sovereign state, is erroneously identified as an Arab world country and an Islamic state.
In which case, black Sudanese identities are lost in the above two identity descriptions of the Sudan. Black Sudanese ethnic as well as religious identities are hence lost. This sad fact has long relegated black Sudanese as "second class citizens" in the land supposedly known as "Bilad as-Sud" which means the land of the blacks. This is a very sad reality of the black Sudanese situation in the country.
The more often used descriptive words to belittle the black Sudanese are: Black Sudanese are the "abid" slaves of the red Arab Sudanese. That is, they are the ones who do most of the dirty jobs in the country ranging from domestic to public.
Such jobs include but are not limited to cleaning, laundry, barrow pushing, night and day guarding and carrying goods on their heads whereas the red Arab Sudanese are well ensconced in luxury, wield absolute powers and resources and maintain undue control over all white collar jobs - a situation that has permanently pushed the black Sudanese to live on political, economic and social margins as refugees and, or displaced persons in their own country.
How do the January 2011 referenda fit in this situational context? The Southern Sudanese, or black Sudanese, must wake up to the crucial referenda call. The January 2011 referenda are "real tests" of whether Southern Sudanese and [oil-rich region of] Abyei people are bonafide Sudanese with featuring national identities and of whether they are ready to continue to live under the cover of Arab-Islamic identities.
The referenda will also determine whether or not Southern Sudanese are comfortable with their relegated status as second class citizens in their own country and whether they are happy being enslaved in their own land.
Willing to break the dirty cycle of enslavement, oppression and marginalization to create a "clean land of freedom" for the Southern Sudanese to live in dignity, walk with their heads up and manage their own political, economic, social, cultural and territorial affairs will also be tested during the forthcoming referenda.
Southerners! The countdown to the referendum leaves no room for ambivalence and, or indecisiveness. The decision and choice are yours. Decide now or else live to regret indefinitely.
As you read this article, consider changing your political stance for the upcoming referenda. Unity of Sudan has long lost sweetness, taste and everything good that you can think about. Separation is now the healing, rejuvenating and joy rendering option.
How can you continue to live with people who have robbed you of your God-given dignity, destroyed your happiness and made life miserable for your ancestors, for you and [who] are determined to make it even worse for your children and future generations if they manage to get your heads in the pot of "yes" for unity.
Ramadan in Sudan: Restaurants to stay open in Khartoum
Thursday, August 12, 2010
HE chairman of the non-Muslim commission in Khartoum, Joshua Dau, has affirmed continuity of the last year's deal between the commission and the localities, which stipulates opening all restaurants in Khartoum to give non-Muslims and those who are unable to fast a chance of having their meals during Ramadan.
Source: Miraya FM - Thursday, 12 August 2010 02:50
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