MiaFarrow.org

 Humanitarian and Advocacy Information

mia farrow

mia farrow's images on flickr

|    DARFUR ARCHIVES
|    PHOTOS     
|    LINKS     
|    EDITORIALS     
|    WHAT YOU CAN DO     
|    DIVESTING
|    FEATURES     
|    JOINT STATEMENT         
|    VIDEOS
|    POWERPOINT

Follow Mia's blog
Click here to see my photo journal from Central African Republic and Chad
Read "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin
View a timeline of events in the humanitarian crisis in Darfur
 

Archives

  • December 2017
  • January 2013
  • July 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • September 2007
    •

« Newer Posts | Older Posts »

November 4, 2009

Jimmy Carter's foundation declares Khartoum is obstructing their capacity to monitor elections
Next April a critical presidential and parliamentary election is scheduled to take place in Sudan. The elections are an integral  part of the 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of war between north-and southern Sudan.  The south is where the oil-fields lie-it is also, in the main, populated by Christians. These two ingredients brought focus and international efforts to end the  conflict, but not before two million southerners were killed  and the poverty stricken south was devastated.

The 2005 peace deal set up a transitional unified government based in Khartoum in the north, and Juba in the south.  But the hostilities and a  complete lack of trust between north and south is far from ended. As a core part of the 2005 peace deal,  in 2011 there is to be a referendum in which the south can chose whether to become independent from the north.  Based on my two trips to Southern Sudan, I believe this is what the people of Southern Sudan hope for, although no one believes the north will allow it to happen without a return to war. Remember the oil fields.

 Voter registration officially began this week.
"These elections are supposed to represent a new event in Sudan's history," said Aly Verjee, a Carter Center spokesman. "Observation is important ... to build confidence in the process both nationally and internationally." The Carter Center-based in Atlanta has been invited to monitor the elections.

But permits for the  32 monitors from the Carter Center are being denied or delayed by Khartoum officials.  Funds promised to state-level election committees have not come through, therefore local committees are unable to pay staff.  It is not clear to the people where the registration sites are, and sites are closed arbitrarily. According to the Carter Center, insecurity and intimidations are obstructing international observers from monitoring  registrations for Sudan's first nationwide elections.  

The Carter Center  called on Sudan to disarm militias.  The are asking Khartoum  to revoke the "state of emergency" in the western Darfur region as this will serve to hamper the voting there. Although Sudanese authorities claim voting will take place in Darfur, many are skeptical.

The Carter Center have called upon Sudanese authorities to ensure the observers' freedom of movement. But the team continues to meet obstacles. These many hindrances will diminish the capacity of  the only international group Sudan permitted to monitor the voting — to verify the fairness of the election.
 
 
«Newer Posts | Older Posts »