UN mission in Sudan outlines referendum role
September 22, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) has outlined the nature and scope of its role in a vote due in January 2011 on the possible independence of south Sudan, asserting that it will only be acting as a provider of technical and logistical assistance to the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), the domestic body tasked with organizing the exercise.
There are serious doubts that the SSRC, whose mission has been set well behind schedule due to political disagreements, can meet the January 9, 2011 deadline in view of the magnitude of the logistical task ahead.
In a press conference held Wednesday at UNMIS’s headquarters in Khartoum, the director of the United Nations Integrated Referendum and Electoral Division (UNIRED), Denis K. Kadima, briefed local and foreign journalists on the role that the UN is going play in the referendum.
Kadima, whose office is responsible for supporting the referendum, pointed out that the UN will provide technical and logistical assistance to the SSRC throughout all stages of the referendum process.
“We will be assisting the Referendum authorities in every phase of the process, starting from the conceptualization of operations, the planning of the procurement and distribution of materials, to the Voter Registration exercise, the exhibition and challenges and finally polling, counting, tabulation and announcement of results,” he said.
Kadima was keen to emphasize that UNIRED is neither monitoring, nor observing the referendum. However, he later pointed out that separate panel commissioned by the UN’s Secretary-General would be monitoring the referendum at the behest of the CPA’s signatories.
“Exceptionally, this referendum will also benefit from the presence of the UN Secretary General’s Referendum Monitoring panel which has been invited by the CPA signatories to support the process and this panel will engage with national authorities and the Commission to make sure all political, security and any other issue affecting the credibility of the process are addressed in a timely fashion,” he said.
Yesterday, the UN Secretary General announced the appointment of former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapato to lead the panel.
UNIRED would be working in tandem with the UNDP and other international organizations to carry out tangible and advisory assistance to the SSRC. He announced that that the UN would deliver “approximately 120 tons of voter registration materials, consisting of training manuals, registration booklets, registration kits, forms, voter education pamphlets and other supplies”.
He further revealed that the UN was training national security officials to safeguard the referendum, and also setting up over 70 Referendum Support Bases and offices in Sudan’s northern states.
The UNMIS official declined to comment on a question about whether the UN thinks that the January 9, 2011 deadline can be met, saying it was up to the SSRC to answer.
(ST)