Sudan lashes out at UN over accusation of census money short
April 4, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — A Sudanese official denied the accuracy of statements made by a UN adviser saying that Khartoum didn’t release money needed to pay census workers.
Sudanese government has not released $13 million in funds needed to pay those carrying out the Fifth Sudan Population and Housing Census. Sudan has “only released $5 million” Herbert Kandeh, the chief U.N. technical adviser to the census, said in an interview with BBC and Reuters last week.
The head of Sudan’s census and general manger of the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Yassin al-Haj Abdin rejected the UN official allegations. He reiterated the commitment of Sudanese government to disburse the pledged money for the census.
In a speech at the launch of a media campaign for the fifth census in Khartoum state on Thursday, Abdin said that the United Nations was not the financial manager of the CBS.
He expressed surprise at the silence of the UN on its financial obligations for 2008.
Abdin explained that some organizations had requested that the government pays its 2008 financial commitments in advance, a matter indicating that these organizations did not have confidence in the government’s abidance.
He announced that he had agreed with the ministry of finance on a cash flow that would correspond to the dates for monetary requirements and that the UN had nothing to do with these arrangements.
He called on all organizations which he said “stuck their noses” into things that did not concern them regarding the census, to stop this useless talk.
The census is due to start on April 15 and for two weeks will employ around 60,000 people throughout the million square mile nation to count the number of people, with questions on whether they are northern or southern.
(ST)