SUDANESE VOICES

The Darfur Consortium not only seeks to highlight the voices of African activists working for a just and sustainable peace in Sudan, it also seeks to highlight the perspectives of Sudanese advocates even though these groups are not formally part of the network.

Below is a sample of Sudanese perspectives on the crisis in Darfur and related challenges to human rights in Sudan as a whole.

2010 Archives

The Position of the Independent Civil Society Network on the Electoral Process

April, 2010

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement represents an important development in the recent history of Sudan. It ended the long-running civil war, laid foundations for the Interim Constitution, and opened the doors for political participation by instilling the ideal of peaceful political change. The agreement also aimed to ensure free and fair elections through full political and civil rights.

Based on these principles, independent civil society became a major and effective partner in democratic transformation with the ultimate goals of freedom, democracy and individual rights. This is why we continue to emphasize that securing a political environment conducive to free and fair elections means abolishing all restrictive laws, reforming civil service, guaranteeing the neutrality and independence of the National Elections Commission (NEC) and governmental media, and ensuring that the people of Darfur have access to safe and free participation.

Read the position statement here.

Sudan Democracy First Group - press release

An Open Letter to President Carter

April 15, 2010

Dear Mr President,

It is with regret that we find ourselves compelled to write this letter to you on the eve of the close of polling in the Sudanese “elections”, three days before the expected declaration of victory for the National Congress Party (NCP) and its indicted President.

Once more we are writing to ask you to withdraw your observer mission from Sudan and salvage your own personal reputation and that of the Carter Center. Your mission is based on the Declaration of Principles for International Observation and Code of Conduct for International Observers which defines democratic elections as, “an expression of sovereignty, which belongs to the people of a country, the free expression of whose will provides the basis for the authority and legitimacy of government”. It further recognises that, “the rights of citizens to vote and to be elected at periodic, genuine democratic elections are internationally recognized human rights”.

Read the letter here.

Sudan Elections: The Theatre of the Absurd and the Tomb of Democratization

(Khartoum/Juba) April 10, 2010

Tomorrow, April 11, all actors are readying for the absurd performance of voting in the Sudan elections, preparing the tomb for the democratization process, and enabling the rule of the National Congress Party (NCP) and its President Omar Al-Bashir to achieve a quarter century of oppression. Polling centers will be open in the morning after the NCP has ensured that the design of the election will lack fairness, freedom and safety. The NCP has exploited the State institutions, employed the National Elections Commission (NEC) and managed to manipulate the many observer missions now arrayed in Sudan.

Read the press release here.

Observer Missions Must stop Lending their Credibility to Sudan Elections

April 6, 2010, (Khartoum/Juba)

International elections observer missions should immediately pull out of Sudan. These groups appear to no longer be able to fulfill their mandate and serve only to legitimize a deeply-flawed elections process.

International observer missions have so far been subject to severe government intimidation. The Sudanese government harshly criticized the Carter Center after publication of its report on March 17th which detailed significant violations in the elections process throughout all stages including fraud and repression of speech and other freedoms. The report also described the uneven playing field for political parties and unequal access to media suggesting technical advises to enable National Election Commission (NEC) to handle the electoral process. Since then the Sudanese government has on multiple occasions threatened all international observer groups more broadly.

Read the statement here.

Elections in Sudan: In Whose Interest?

“Even America is becoming an NCP member. No one is against our will”, President Omer Albashir,in Sinar , Blue Nile State City rally, 3 April 2010

April 5, 2010

Yesterday the African Union, under the leadership of former Ghanian President John Kufuor, dispatched the final members of its 50 person strong team to monitor the elections in Sudan which are scheduled to begin on April 11th. The big question, however, today is whether there will be any elections to monitor.

Over the last two days the major Sudanese political opposition parties have said that they are withdrawing from the Presidential elections and boycotting the parliamentary ballot—to varying extents. Declaring that the “election lacks the minimum fundamental requirements of a free and fair election” the main opposition parties on Thursday, speaking as the Sudanese National Consensus Forces (SNCF), laid out a set of demands for their continued participation in the process, central to them is the postponement of elections until November 2010.

Read the statement here.

Darfur Democratic Forum

(January 30, 2010) An open letter to the African leaders and presidents in the African Union Summit meeting in Addis Ababa - Ethiopia:

Gentlemen, the leaders and presidents of African countries gathering in Addis Ababa - Ethiopia for an African Union summit.

The Darfur Democratic Forum (DDF) calls you kindly as you are gathering to argue with the issues of the African continent, it appreciates your tremendous efforts to bring peace, restore security and stability to the continent, taking wish to put the issue of Sudan and Darfur in top of your discussions and your upcoming resolutions.

The government of Sudan since 2002, as you know is exercising serious and organized violations against human rights and non-Arab African tribes in Darfur, that entered the Darfur issue to the corridors of the Security Council discussions at the United Nations, Arab League and Africa Union which is became a central issue in all the global summits as the third genocide after Holocaust, Rwanda and Burundi, and was eventually developed as a key issue in the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Read the letter here.