Sudan’s SPLM threatens to boycott elections over census dispute
January 29, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) abruptly announced that it will not take part in the South Sudan legislative elections unless the dispute over census results is sorted out, a senior official said today.
Deng Alor who is also the foreign minister told Reuters in an interview from Addis Ababa where he is taking part in the African Union (AU) summit that it is not in the interest of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) not to resolve the issue.
“It has to be resolved otherwise the south will not participate in the elections of national parliament,” Alor, who is an SPLM leading figure, told Reuters.
“I’m confident that this issue will be resolved because it is not in the interest of the National Congress that the south does not participate in the elections at the level of national parliament” he added.
The SPLM has disputed the census results in the entire country and pressed for scrapping it for the purpose of determining the geographical constituencies.
The SPLM deputy chairman Riek Machar said in press statements this month that they have reached to amend the National Elections Law in which the number of parliamentary seats would be increased to more than 450.
This is supposed to be a compromise to resolve the disputed national census results but talks appear to have collapsed to bridge differences.
In April 2010, Sudan is scheduled to hold its first democratic elections in 24 years. General elections are required by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, or CPA, which ended the civil conflict between northern and southern Sudan that lasted two decades, killed 2 million people, and displaced 4 million more.
The south accuses the north of manipulating the results of the census to deny the south adequate representation in parliament, commensurate with its size, in order to pass self-serving legislation.
“There is politics behind it … there is a possibility of the national parliament changing the (2005) agreement, even changing the right to self determination for the people of south Sudan if there is no reasonable blocking minority,” Alor said.
“Everybody is conscious about this. Everybody knows that it is an explosive situation. Everybody is very careful that this issue is resolved and resolved adequately. Nobody wants war, nobody wants insecurity,” Alor said.
“While we admit — like a powder keg — that the situation is chaotic we are still hopeful the issues could be handled and resolved.”
Alor added that the problems revolved around the country’s oil sector where foreign firms are active.
“Sudan has been dependent on the oil revenues and Sudan has neglected the non-oil revenues. Ninety percent of Sudan’s budget is dependent on oil and 90 percent of the oil is in the south.”
“So if the south separates in 2011 then the north is going to be in a very bad situation economically so what is at the centre is the politics of the money.”
(ST)