Darfur’s Minnawi to run for parliamentary seat in North Darfur
January 23, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese senior presidential assistant who also head an ex-rebel group from Darfur will run in the for the North Darfur seat in the national assembly in the upcoming elections, a Sudanese newspaper reported today.
The report further ruled out that Minnawi will step down from his federal position similar to president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir resignation from the army in compliance with elections law which prohibits military personnel from running as candidates.
“That is not a condition for nomination, Bashir is a candidate but did not resign,” a source said.
Minnawi’s faction was the major Darfur rebel group that signed the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in 2006. However, he has frequently accused Khartoum of reneging on the terms of the accord and in 2008 year he abandoned his presence in the Sudanese capital for over four months fueling speculations that he defected.
The sources expressed doubts that elections can be held in the war ravaged region of Darfur citing mass displacement and concerns over fairness and integrity of the process in the region.
The African Union High-Level Panel on Darfur (AUPD), led by former South African president Thabo Mbeki, said last year that Darfurians must take part in the elections.
“It is important that the people of Darfur are involved in those elections,” he said “Otherwise you this sense of exclusion and marginalization if the whole country goes to election to choose a president, a national parliament and so on, and the people of Darfur are not part of that process,” he said.
Sudanese opposition figures in a meeting this week have issued a statement this week suggesting the current environment is not conducive for holding the election suggesting that delaying it will be the best option.
(ST)