Sudanese official praises UNAMID efforts during the electoral process
April 22, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — Mustafa Osman Ismail, head of the National Congress Party (NCP) secretary for foreign relations praised today the contribution of the hybrid peacekeeping mission to the conduct of electoral process in Darfur.
The security situation in Darfur today is better than ever said the Sudanese official following the meeting and the running of the elections there proved that.
“We thank the UNAMID for the role it played to ensure the success of the elections,” he said.
Providing a logistical support to the electoral process, The hybrid mission assisted the National Election Commission (NEC) in transporting electoral materials to more than 30 remote locations.
The UNAMID police trained more than ten thousands (10000) Sudanese police to ensure security during the elections.
In December 2009, the peacekeepers contributed to the registration process in Darfur where some 2.4 million people in the three states of Darfur (nearly 67.5 percent of the estimated voting-age population), registered to vote.
Sudan organized during the period from 11 to 15 April, the first multi-party elections in the country since 24 years. Some 16 million Sudanese were invited to cast their vote for the election of the Sudanese and southern Sudan government presidents and the state governors besides the MPs at national and regional levels.
“We also emphasized, to the chief of the joint mission, our respect to the UNAMID work and confirmed our full cooperation with the Mission.”
“We appreciate very much the role they play in Darfur, and we will deal with it primarily as African troops,” Musafa stressed.
Sudanese government pledged recently to cooperate with the UNAMID to secure the release of four South African peacekeepers kidnapped on April 11, the day where the elections started in the country.
(ST)