Activists raise concern over African Union monitoring of Sudan vote
April 13, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese and African civil society groups Monday expressed deep concern over the African Union’s (AU) decision to send an observation team to Sudan, calling for an objective and accurate mission.
The signatories called on the AU not to “legitimise a process aimed at prolonging the Government of Sudan’s continued political, human rights and humanitarian abuses and which is grossly inconsistent with the standards of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG)”.
They further stressed that the AU monitors “must report objectively and accurately on structural flaws in the election process”.
Sudanese government is holding a three-day electoral process to renew the mandate of the incumbent president Omer al-Bashir and elect members of parliament from the current governing coalition led by the National Congress Party (NCP).
The opposition parties decided to boycott the process as because the government refused their call to prioritise the African Union supported efforts to end war and reach national agreement on a new democratic constitution.
A leaked report by an AU pre-elections assessment mission also pointed to the lack of freedoms and said that “the necessary conditions and environment for the holding of transparent, competitive, free and fair elections as agreed in the AU principles governing democratic elections have not been satisfied”.
Sources said the AUPSC decision was politically motivated, asserting that several member states meant to ignore the report of the assessment mission and vote for sending the monitoring team not only because they support Bashir’s regime but also because they do not want to register “bad precedent”.
In a separate statement, the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said the campaigning environment had been unconducive for the conduct of a fair and free elections in the country.
“There is no prospect of open, transparent free or fair elections in Sudan whilst independent civil society groups, human rights defenders, political activists and journalists are at such a high risk of arbitrary detention for voicing dissenting views and whilst conflict rages in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states,” the statement said.
ACJPS and FIDH further said the Sudanese authorities harassed, arbitrarily arrested dissenting voices, particularly those who campaign for the election boycott.
(ST)