From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Apr 07 2010 - 06:45:48 EDT
South Sudan party to boycott elections in north
Tue Apr 6, 2010 10:15pm GMT
* Ruling party "disappointed" by SPLM decision
* Opposition DUP party rejoins presidential race
(Adds DUP return to presidential poll, border accusation by south president)
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, April 6 (Reuters) - South Sudan's main party said on Tuesday it
would boycott elections in most states in northern Sudan, a further blow to
the poll already hit by accusations of fraud less than a week before the
vote.
"We announce the SPLM (Sudan People's Liberation Movement) boycott of all
the elections in the north on all levels ... in 13 states of the north,"
party secretary general Pagan Amum told reporters, saying Sudan's incumbent
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir had rigged the vote.
Sudan's presidential, legislative and gubernatorial elections, due to start
on Sunday, are central to a 2005 peace deal signed by the SPLM and Bashir's
northern National Congress Party (NCP) ending more than two decades of civil
war.
The SPLM decision will be seen as a rebuke to Bashir and will add to tension
as both sides prepare for a sensitive referendum on the independence of
Sudan's oil-producing south, also promised under the peace deal, in January
2011.
Political analysts say Bashir hopes to show he can win a competitive
election to legitimise his rule and fend off an indictment against him by
the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges in Darfur.
A senior NCP official, Ibrahim Ghandour, told Reuters he was "disappointed"
by the decision, but said it would not affect the legitimacy of the election
or plans for the referendum.
Amum told reporters the party was taking the decision in protest against
irregularities in the build-up to the vote. The SPLM and opposition parties
have accused the NCP of clamping down on campaigning and rigging voter
registration and other preparations. The NCP denies the accusations.
Amum said the decision excluded the border states of Blue Nile and South
Kordofan, adding that the SPLM would continue to contest elections in south
Sudan.
OPPOSITION IN DISARRAY
Tuesday's announcement marked an escalation in SPLM protests. Last week the
party said it was pulling out only of the presidential election and all
votes in the strife-torn Darfur region, leaving opposition groups in
disarray over whether to follow suit.
The opposition Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which pulled out of the
presidential race last week after the first SPLM boycott, said late on
Tuesday it had reversed its decision.
It decided to reinstate its presidential candidate Hatim al-Sir after
appeals from supporters, party official Salah al-Basha told Reuters, without
giving details.
The DUP has been holding talks with the ruling NCP in recent days and was a
late member of a loose opposition coalition protesting against
irregularities. Some commentators earlier saw it as a possible NCP ally in
the poll.
Analysts had speculated the SPLM's partial boycott last week was part of a
deal with the NCP to allow Bashir to win the elections in exchange for a
guaranteed referendum. SPLM candidate Yasir Arman was seen as Bashir's main
contender and his withdrawal increased the likelihood of an NCP victory.
The SPLM's wider boycott on Tuesday suggested the party had dropped efforts
to placate Bashir in the north.
In another sign of deteriorating relations, south Sudan's president accused
Khartoum on Tuesday of delaying the demarcation of the country's north-south
border in an attempt to grab southern oil and land.
The north was also dragging its feet over the independence referendum and
other sections of the peace deal, Salva Kiir told supporters as he
campaigned in remote southern Lakes State. (Additional reporting by Skye
Wheeler in Yirol, Lakes State; writing by Andrew Heavens; editing by Andrew
Dobbie)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
EU considers withdrawing Darfur poll observers
Wed Apr 7, 2010 9:14am GMT
By Andrew Heavens
EL-FASHER, Sudan, April 7 (Reuters) - The European Union said on Wednesday
said it was considering withdrawing its election observers from Sudan's
Darfur region over fears for their safety and restrictions on their work.
Sudan is days away from presidential, legislative and gubernatorial
elections, but opposition parties have said the polls in Darfur will be a
farce while a seven-year conflict continues in the region. Some have
boycotted the elections fully in north Sudan, also citing fraud.
"We are considering withdrawing the observers (from Darfur)," said Veronique
De Keyser, who heads the EU's election mission in Sudan. "The safety of some
of the observers in some remote parts of the country is a very big concern
for me. I am also concerned about our ability to observe."
"In some parts of Darfur the violence is terrible. The humanitarians cannot
access this area. And if aid cannot access, we cannot access," she told
reporters as she flew into el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to meet
her six-strong team in the remote western region.
"We can only have a very partial view, so how can we observe properly in
Darfur? The credibility of the mission is at stake. People have been asking
how can you observe in Darfur, and this is a question I have to answer."
De Keyser said she was particularly worried after Sudan's President Omar
Hassan al-Bashir threatened to expel international observers who pushed for
a delay in the ballot. Bashir has threatened to cut off their fingers and
tongues.
"You don't usually treat international observers you have invited like that.
... It doesn't reflect the traditional hospitality of the Arab world," she
said.
The EU team, which arrived in Darfur in mid March, consists of two observers
in each of the three state capitals. Bashir, who is wanted by the
International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, hopes to legitimise
his rule with a victory in next week's polls.
Violence flared in Darfur in 2003 when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms
against Sudan's government, accusing it of neglecting the development of the
region.
The United Nations estimates that up to 300,000 people may have died after
the government mounted a counter-insurgency, arming mostly Arab militias.
Khartoum rejects the accusation, putting the death count at 10,000.
Rebels and one U.N. official reported continuing clashes in the central
Jabel Marra area and other parts of West Darfur last month, saying aid
groups and diplomats had been barred from entering the area. Sudan's army
denied serious fighting took place.
South Sudan's main party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, pulled out
of elections in most north Sudan states on Tuesday, citing widespread fraud
in the build up to the vote and the insecurity in Darfur.
Other small opposition parties have followed suit but the large Umma party
on Wednesday was still discussing how far to follow suit.
De Keyser said it was too early to judge the impact of the withdrawals on
the credibility of the elections. (Editing by Opheera McDoom and David
Stamp)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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