African Media Coverage

January 16-31, 2010

Kenya: The Daily Nation
South Sudan candidate promises Darfur deal
17 January 2010

The presidential candidate for Sudan’s former southern rebels has said he would bring peace to Darfur, end Khartoum’s pariah status, and win office with the backing of millions of marginalised Sudanese.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) on Friday named Yasir Arman as its challenger against Sudan’s incumbent President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in April elections.

Arman, a northern Muslim with political clout in Khartoum but little international profile, told Reuters his priorities once elected would include democratic reforms and a public acknowledgement that Darfuris had legitimate grievances.

The SPLM said its leader Salva Kiir would stand for the separate position of president of oil-producing southern Sudan, where the population has been promised a referendum on whether to split off as an independent state in January 2011.

Read the article here.

Angola: The Angolan Press
Sudan rejects three presidential candidates
31 January 2010

Sudan has rejected three presidential candidates, including  the only woman, for its first democratic elections in 24 years.

The ruling has raised further doubts about the presidential and legislative  elections after opposition accusations of fraud during registration and of  intimidation and vote buying by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP). 

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's NCP denies fraud and says the opposition is  unprepared.

Sudan's opposition has long complained the requirements for standing for the  mpresidency were too tough in Africa's largest country, devastated by decades of  civil war. Candidates must gather 15,000 supporting signatures from 18 of 25  states.

Read the article here.

Kenya: The East African
AU Summit: A critical moment to support Sudan
31 January 2010

For years, we have been hearing African leaders calling for African solutions to African problems. And for many more years, we have been waiting to see our leaders rise to the occasion and demonstrate strong leadership to resolve the many conflicts that are plaguing our continent. 

The Sudan crisis is one such conflict. In the past year, the African Union demonstrated the type of leadership that Africa really needs by commissioning a report on the situation in Darfur. This leadership comes at a critical juncture for Sudan whose post-independence history is hallmarked by internal conflict — between North and South, in Eastern Sudan, and more recently in Darfur. An estimated over 300,000 Darfurians have been killed and over 2.5 million continue to live in displaced camps both in Sudan and across the border in Chad.  Rampant sexual violence, including rape, featured prominently during the conflict. 

Despite several international and regional attempts to resolve the conflict in Darfur, none has been more promising than the African Union High-Level Panel led by former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki and his team consisting of former African heads of state, ministers and prominent Sudan specialistson Darfur. They made four trips to Sudan within six months and sought to listen to the voices and perceptions of the people. The process achieved credibility with the Sudanese.