Sudan starts first census since 1993
April 22, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Sudan on Tuesday began its first counting in 15 years, a milestone step towards the first free elections since 1989 and the distribution of power and wealth in the country after a peace deal signed in 2005.
However, many Sudanese are sceptical results will be accurate and fear they may spark new disputes in Africa’s largest country.
The census, funded jointly by the Sudanese government and the UN, was supposed to start in January, but has been repeatedly delayed. Most recently, the southern Sudan cabinet delayed last week’s start date because of concerns the census would not properly count southerners.
Darfur movements also seem to be bound by the results. Signatories of peace agreement urged to postpone it while rebel groups boycott the count, both accusing the dominant National Congress Party of manipulating the census to maximise its control and marginalise the periphery regions.
The authorities, assisted greatly by the United Nations and international observers, said door-to-door counting was smooth and transparent for the most comprehensive census ever held in Sudan, almost constantly engulfed in civil war since independence in 1956.
In Khartoum, a few private cars could be seen in the downtown Tuesday, and people stayed home after the government declared the first day of the census a holiday. Public transportation was shut off and state television showed workers in distinctive blue uniforms going door-to-door and greeting families.
The count is expected to last until May 5 where the 60,000 census takers mostly teachers and educated local are to visit homes and villages.
In accordance with the CPA schedule, under which general elections should have been completed by July 2009, the census should also have been finalised in 2007.
International observers have raised concerns that significant parts of Darfur and not just three percent as claimed by Khartoum will be excluded from the count owing to opposition from rebels.
“My people are not there at home… They’re in Chad and concentrated in IDP camps, under trees here and there, in mountains and villages, so what they’re doing is meaningless,” said Khalil Ibrahim, the leader of the Justice and Equality Movement, the strongest rebel group militarily in Darfur, the Agence France Press reported.
While SLM leader, Abdul-Wahid al-Nur, called on his followers to reject the census. “It’s a cheated process.” He claimed the Sudanese government avoided including ethnic criteria in the census questionnaires because it wanted to avoid recognizing that a majority of Darfur’s 6 million people are ethnic Africans.
The Egyptian-occupied Halayib triangle in the northeast and remote areas in the south flooded by rains will also be excluded.
The most recent U.N. estimate for Sudan’s population is 37.8 million but the numbers are difficult to verify because of Sudan’s huge internal displacement and also tens of thousands of Sudanese who have fled fighting over the years to neighbouring countries.
The central bureau of statistics expects census results as early as September, but other officials have quoted Christmas as a more realistic date.
(ST)
Manyang
Sudan starts first census since 1993
NCP has already manipulated the national census to its advantage. By Manyang Deng
It is now seem the NCP is slowly taking grip of the affairs of the country. It is unthinkable in any part of the world to restrict the crucial elements of the national census such as ethnicity and religion like it has been done in the sudan. The national census was to be completed in mid 2007 but the NIF deliberately delayed it because of the reasons known to it.
I do not think the architecs of the CPA were intending for the sudan national census to be conducted under the current situations in the country. Now National Islamic Front is actively conducting genocide in Darfur and many people from that area had fled the country. As result, they will not be counted in this national census and the regime in Khartoum will estimate their population. Will this be good for our country? In addition, NCP has failed to demarcate the North-South border which is the crucial step for conducting a fair national census. Will this lead to good or bad relation between former foes? Further more, the status of Abyei has not yet been resolved because NCP has no political will to put the issue to rest. The population in the Abyei region will not properly counted.
During the course of the sudanese brutal war, many people had been displaced and NCP knew this very well. Many southerners are now in the north and NCP is intentionally refusing to provide the fund for repatriating these people to their places of origin. These people will not be counted or they will counted as arabs because the NCP is the one doing counting in the north without independent observers. Many people are also stranded in neighbouring countries longing to go home to be counted but they have no means. According to the CPA, the above issues were first to be addressed in order to have a comprehensive national census.
One question is lingering in the mind of many people. Why is the NCP refusing to include religion and ethnicity in the census. The previous governments and the current NIF were all comfortable to call sudan an islamic and Arab country. As a proof, the so called president of the sudan recently attended the Arabs summit in Damascus. Why don’t they prove it to the world that sudan is an arab country in this census.
The NCP/NIF has sensed the fear to their brutal regime. NCP knew that less than 30 per cent of the sudanese population is going to register as arabs. This what the fear most. To qoute the statement of our leader Dr John Garang, ” If less than 30 per cent of population can claimed sudan to be an islamic and arab country will other 70 per cent not call sudan an African country”.
My message to the SPLM led GOSS is that, you have to be consistent in your deliberations in order to win hearts and minds of the marginalized people of the Sudan. Do not confine yourself to southern borders because many people are out there waiting for your salvation. National issues such as the census has to be approached with consistency and not changing position on daily basis. Our beloved president Salva Kiir Mayardit told us that the issue ethnicity and religion had been addressed by the presidency. I doudt this, because we are not going to have another census very soon to include this issues.
Long live the marginalized people of the sudan
peter kuot
Sudan starts first census since 1993
The historic Census will not have any evidence to deal with the two main marginalization topics.
‘It is better to remove any stumbling block on the way than to leave it behind and continue on your way forward. When you do so then you are at a risk of stumbling when you return through the same route’.
During the Comprehensive Peace Agreement(CPA) the Late Dr. John Garang de Mabior was quoted as saying, “we are left with few stumbling block to reach the final peace deal.” He exclaimed that slogan because he was determined to attaining a clear route to avoid stumbling and that is why the negotiations for what came to be known as CPA took a record time of about three years. The fallen Hero was a man of anticipations and visions who the NCP government never attempted their strategy of unnecessary hushing.
The ongoing census was meant to solve the main marginalization issues of ‘racial discrimination’ and ‘religious diversity’. Though Sudan is visibly and historically known as an African Country, it’s recognised as an Arab country according to the blindfolding Khartoum Statistics. Khartoum has also preached to the world that Sudan is an Islamic country.
These two main topics of marginalization now remain unsolved since the census statistics will not present any proven evidence due to absence of ‘race’ and ‘religion’ columns in the census questionaire. This means that the Arabs manipulation of Southern Sudanese will be recurring.
How ever the census excercise will not be a total zero work since it will reveal the tue population of Southern Sudan which was wrongly estimated as 9 millions.
Dr. John Garang must be turning in his grave as most of his visions lie in ruins.His Comrades he left behind to complete the mision have instead turned to be hoarders and exploiters forgetting their patriotic activities. They have become NCP manipulation and hush victims. I would advice GOSS officials beginning from Salva Kiir the president, to start recovering Garang’s Visions which were quoted from his speeches before he died and use them as special guides instead of leaving them to decompose and lost.
By Jonglei Watchdog.