Bashir to tour Darfur states ahead of the administrative referendum

March 15, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – A senior Sudanese official Tuesday disclosed that President Omer al-Bashir will visit Darfur’s five states ahead of the administrative referendum scheduled to be held on 11 April.

Next April, the residents of Darfur region are called to determine the administrative status of the region as they have to vote the retention of the status quo of States system or the re-establishment of one region.

Sudan’s state minister of cabinet affairs and spokesperson of the National Liberation and Justice Party (NLJP) Ahmed Fadal Allah said Bashir’s visit comes within the framework of promoting security and peace in the region.

He told the official news agency (SUNA) that Bashir would check the security conditions on the ground after the recent clashes in Jebel Marra between the government army and the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM-AW) led by Abdel-Wahid al-Nur.

Fadl Allah pointed that Bashir’s visit coincides with the intensive preparations to hold the administrative referendum in Darfur.

The referendum has the support of former rebel groups signatory of the Doha framework agreement. But it faces some opposition from the dignitaries of the ruling party in the region.

Many in the strongly tribally divided region fear that this creation of the regional body would revive tribal trivialities.

The opposition and rebel groups insist on the timing and the legitimacy of the procedure. They say that referendum would not express the will of Darfurians, pointing to the IDPs and refugees in Chad who will not participate in the vote.

(ST)