U.S. conference spotlights Sudan 2009 elections
By Daniel Van Oudenaren
September 19, 2008 (WASHINGTON) — Representatives from Sudan’s ruling
coalition highlighted the procedures of a new election law at a
conference in Washington on Thursday, even as other participants
expressed serious concerns about the prospects of the 2009 elections,
specifically, serious gaps in voter education, the immense logistical
difficulties of conducting elections in South Sudan in July during the
rainy season, and the grim possibilities for free and fair elections
in Darfur, where large areas are still in armed opposition and where
rebel commanders did not allow the census to be held.
Civil society supporters expressed frustration that the aid they were
ready to offer for election procedures has not been permitted by the
national government, even though the government of South Sudan already
solicited their support. Support for the elections could amount to
millions of dollars from Western groups like the conference host, the
National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
Sudan’s new elections act, approved in July, calls for the
establishment of a nine-member national elections commission,
appointed by the president and approved by the first vice president
and two thirds of the national assembly, within one month of the
adoption of the law—a deadline that has already passed.
“It is very crucial for the National Election Commission (NEC) to be
formed, because the election law is very general, and it had a lot of
gaps that it left in the legal framework that is left for the NEC to
fill. So we’re waiting for a lot of rules and regulations to be in
place, and some of them will in fact affect the voter education
programs,” said Zeinab Abdelkarim, who practiced law in Sudan for five
years before coming to the United States, where she now represents the
International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES). IFES performed
baseline civic and voter education studies last month in Sudan.
Susan Page, who just returned from a visit to Khartoum as a
representative of the National Democratic Institute, explained that
part of the delay was a disagreement over whether the commission
should have two co-chairs or a chair and a deputy chair, as stated in
the law.
The law is a step forward, acknowledged Mahgoub El-Tigani, who
otherwise denounced an “arsenal of restrictive laws” and continuing
torture, suppression and surveillance of trade unions, professional
societies and religious sects. Now a professor at Tennessee State
University in Nashville, USA, El-Tigani has worked with NED in Cairo
since 1992 and is a founding member of the Sudanese Social Workers
Association.
“We have set up commissions inside the country, with popular
organizations to oversee the elections, to help any international
monitoring group that will be able—despite China—to go in and work
with the civilian people,” said El-Tigani, referring to Sudan’s ally
China, which has provided economic, diplomatic and military assistance
to the country. “We are having a little bit of support that is very
highly appreciated by civil society. We want that support to be
greater, through this direct, direct negotiations and funneling of
support to the Sudanese popular movement inside.”
The key government presenter, Mudawi El-Turabi, a member of the
Sudanese parliament and assistant secretary general of the Democratic
Unionist Party, argued that since the time of President Nimeiri
(1969-1985), Sudan’s legislature has been emerging from a rubber stamp
body, to an arena for discussion and debate, to a more transformative
institution.
By contrast, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, head of the Government of Southern
Sudan Mission in the United States, argued that “the [ruling] National
Congress Party’s (NCP) actions have clearly undermined the elections
in the CPA.” Gatkuoth, citing unnecessary delays and violence of
demarcating the borders between North and South, added, “the census,
while not required as an element in the election process, could have
fostered confidence in the electorate, had not Khartoum caused
significant delays by withholding funds. This is also a sign of bad
faith from the NCP. In fact, it is worse than that. The list of the
elements necessary for a coherent national election but left undone or
seriously delayed by the NCP is staggering.”
“We need massive voter education especially in the south … they are
illiterate and they will be voting on 12 ballots,” said Gatkuoth.
Even for some U.S. politicians, the stakes are high. The keynote
speaker, Congressman Donald Payne (Democrat – New Jersey), was even
more pessimistic than Gatkuoth. “I go to Sudan a great deal but I’ve
never been to Khartoum,” said Payne. “Imagine organizing elections in
Poland during World War Two,” he said, alluding to the brutal German
occupation from 1939-1945 of Poland, where many of the Nazi death
camps were based.
U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson, who spoke first on the
day, did not share the overall tone of harsh frustration and
rhetorical posturing, but nevertheless spoke most gravely of the 2009
elections, the situation in Darfur, violence and displacement in Abyei
and the referendum in 2011. “The key is to get to 2011, when a
referendum is scheduled to allow self-determination for the South. If
the election does not take place, it will undermine the likelihood
that a peaceful referendum will also take place and therefore the
self-determination that was negotiated for the south will be denied,
and could contribute to a spiral of new violence,” said Williamson.
“The violence continues,” Williamson said of Darfur, referencing his
conversation this past weekend with rebel leader Minni Minawi, whose
supporters in Zamzam camp were bombed and surrounded by some 90
vehicles while a three-and-a-half hour skirmish ensued. Referring to
additional attacks, including one by 90-100 vehicles on Kalma camp on
Aug. 25, he said, “the point is there continues to be insecurity there
under the guise of a law and order campaign in Darfur. At the same
time humanitarian workers are not able to function.”
Minawi was a signatory of the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement, of which
the recent attacks constitute a violation, Williamson stressed to
Sudan Tribune. Minawi noted to Miraya FM on Sunday that he is
arranging to visit Washington. “I don’t know if he is coming but if he
is I look forward to meeting him,” said Williamson on Thursday.
Williamson argued that the elections are an opportunity for Sudanese
to change a pattern of handling divisions with violence, but ended his
remarks by saying, “the challenges are great, the United States stands
ready to be supportive and help, but ultimately this is a problem,
this is a challenge that’s owned by the Sudanese people. Organizations
like the National Endowment for Democracy, National Democratic
Institute, International Republican Institute, International
Foundation of Electoral Systems and many others—civil society and
elsewhere—want to help the Sudanese realize the opportunity for
elections.”
The U.S. State Department declared on Sept. 9, 2004, that genocide was
taking place in Darfur. Unless postponed, elections are expected to
be held in July 2009 in accordance with the provisions of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 between the warring
northern government and the southern Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement.
(ST)