Southern Sudanese President Salva Kiir and President Omar al-Bashir have agreed to accept the presence of 4,200 Ethiopian peacekeeping troops, under supervision of the African Union.

Tensions could resurface in Abyei, despite an agreement reached in the Ethiopian capital. © UN Photo / Stuart Price (courtesy: SudanVotes)

The mission’s mandate is to observe the security conditions in Abyei until a referendum to determine the region’s future status is held.

he negotiations in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, were facilitated by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who currently chairs the African Union’s implementation panel for Sudan (AUP); and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zinawi and Burundi’s former president, Pierre Buyoya, were also on hand for the talks on Abyei, which remains an open wound in a landscape whose disputed borders appear like scars on the map of Sudan. Both north and south claim the oil-rich region belongs on their side of the divide.

Nafie Ali Nafie, President al-Bashir’s assistant, said the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) would withdraw from Abyei when Ethiopian troops arrive, but that the presence of the SAF in the region was a national duty to prevent the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) from expanding into the north.

Philip Aguer

SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer has accused Khartoum of “waging war” on the premise that it can control the region militarily and claim Abyei as its own when the south becomes independent on 9 July.

Under AUP auspices, the two parties would continue discussing the new proposals, with the SPLM possibly offering some amendments. Ms. Clinton has emphasised the retreat of the SAF from Abyei with the presence of neutral forces in the region.

A vote to decide whether Abyei should be part of north or south Sudan was a provision of the 2005 peace agreement. It was supposed to take place in January, at the same time Southern Sudanese voted to secede, but issues over voting rights mired the referendum in controversy, and it was subsequently shelved.

Observers say Khartoum’s intransigence on Abyei leaves many questioning the likelihood of friendly relations with Juba after the south secedes, despite the agreement reached by Kiir and al-Bashir.

Some Sudan watchers fear war is inevitable, pointing to Khartoum’s aim to open a second front in the region to destabilise the world’s newest nation. The northern government’s tendency to favour military solutions over peaceful alternatives, they say, could escalate the conflict between north and south Sudan, which will become two separate nations in less than two weeks.

Legal escalation

The people of Abyei who belong to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) plan to press charges against Khartoum at the International Criminal Court (ICC), claiming they have documents proving the SAF committed crimes against civilians in the region.

Thousands of families were forced to flee Abyei for nearby villages, where they now live in the open air despite heavy seasonal rains. According to the UN, over 60,000 people have been displaced.

U.S. President Barack Obama had urged the Khartoum government to halt military operations in the region and to stop violence against civilians.

“The leaders of north and south Sudan should live up to their responsibilities,” he said in a message. “The Khartoum government must prevent a further escalation.”

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) expressed concerns after the SAF escalated its air strikes in the region, and reported “growing fear among some displaced people who have found themselves trapped by ongoing violence.”

Strategic retreat

The SPLM believes that Khartoum’s withdrawal of its army from Abyei is a tactical decision aimed at sending forces to Southern Kordofan to support soldiers fighting there.

“Clashes have broken out between SPLA and SAF near Bahr al-Arab when a SAF patrol tried to trespass on a GoSS area,” said SPLM spokesman Philip Aguer.

Tension in the oil-rich region escalated after an attack on a convoy of northern troops who were being escorted out of Abyei by UN soldiers, which was blamed on an SPLM soldier. Khartoum responded by seizing the region and expelling the local administration. Tens of thousands fled after widespread fighting.

Ayman Nour Addin, a political analyst, views the agreement to meet in Addis Ababa  “hypocrisy” after refusing to have any previous dialogue about the Abyei crisis, saying it was only  “so that each party could hold the other responsible” for the situation.

On the other hand, “If there is a real political will and desire,” he said, “such talks may lead to a decisive solution to close this file once and for all.”

(original article at SudanVotes)

As I follow events in Southern Sudan and add articles to my headlines timeline, people continually ask me basic questions about Sudan. Below I’ve included a few videos that have recently been posted online. They should provide a descent background for those wanting to learn more as Southern Sudanese are set to what is generally believed to choose to create Africa’s newest independent country.

_____

Sudan: History of a Broken Land

As the people of southern Sudan prepare to vote in a referendum that may see them secede from the North, Al Jazeera maps the turbulent history of a country on the verge of a momentous decision.

_____

Crossroads Sudan: Sudan’s path to development

Al Jazeera looks at the economic challenges Sudan will be facing after a possible secession of the South.

_____

Sudan Referendum

On Sunday, Southern Sudan will begin a week-long referendum on whether to break off from Sudan and form a new independent state. The vote is being held under the 2005 peace agreement that ended a nearly four-decade civil war between the North and South that killed some 2.5 million Sudanese. The people of South Sudan are widely expected to approve secession, and the vote has stoked fears of renewed violence in Africa’s largest nation. by Democracy Now

Local drummer, Ajing Deng beats the drum as the dancers follows along. With him is a very young boy who is also caugh up in the action of drum beating. He is at it at a very young age, but its part of the rich tradition of the Sudanese culture.

Local drumist, Ajing Deng beats the drum as the dancers follows along. With him is a very young boy who is also caugh up in the action of drum beating. He is at it at a very young age, but its part of the rich tradition of the Sudanese culture.

International focus moved away from Sudan’s long civil war toward the regional rebellion and government’s genocidal reaction that began in Darfur around 2003. Darfur rebels became active with the objective of being included into the peace talks that resulted with the CPA deal. Unfortunately, they were excluded for reasons that are still not clear to me.

The signing of the CPA initiated a six-year interim period, during which time the central government in Khartoum and the semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan are to pass laws that will allow the two regions to coexist. Border issues are to be resolved, oil wealth distribution is to be made equitable, cencus and election legislation is to be passed. According to the CPA, if the two regions are still unable to coexist after the six years, then in 2011, Southern Sudan will hold a self-determination referendum to decide whether or not for independence, creating Africca’s newest independent state.

The 5th anniversary and Sudan’s first democratic, multiparty elections to be held in April 2010 are drawing more attention to the situation in all of Sudan. The myopic, but still important, focus on Darfur is being brought into the fold of the larger and more precarious situation in Southern Sudan, where much of the civil war was fought. If war returns to Southern Sudan, it will consume all of Sudan and the larger region.

One of the symptoms of the resurgent interest in maintaining the CPA in Sudan is Sudan 365, A Beat for Peace. Musicians from around the world (Sudan, UK, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Ireland, Egypt, Rwanda, Spain, Russia, USA, India, and elsewhere), take a video of themselves playing (mostly) percussian instruments that have been edited together in the video below as a single music video. Known artists like Radiohead’s Philip Selway, Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, Snow Patrol’s Jonny Quinn, the Police’s Stewart Copeland, have participated.

If you want to add your beat to the melée, you just need to upload your peace beat. It’s time to get the drums out and call your friends!

Opposition parties called for a rally on Sunday in the country’s capital, Khartoum. The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) issued a statement banning the political rally by opposition groups including the Major Southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). According to a Reuters report in yesterday’s The New York Times, opposition parties”had called for demonstrations outside parliament on Monday to demand a raft of democratic reforms in a rare challenge to the president.”

Up to 20 opposition parties participated in the rally, which culminated in the arrest of more than 70 people including senior opposition government officials. “The SPLM and opposition groups are calling on Khartoum to clear a backlog of legislation they say is essential for elections and the roll-out of a faltering peace deal,” continues the Reuters article.

“]Al Jazeera reports that confirm that Pagan Amum, SPLM’s Secretary General, Yassir Arman, Deputy Secretary General of SPLM in the north, and Abbas Gummas, state minister in the coalition government, were arrested during the rally and later released.

In reaction the the arrests, protesters in the Southern towns of Wau and Rumbek set fire to the NCP offices in those towns. A statement issued by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, emphasized the “central importance of political rights and freedoms, especially in the lead-up to elections and referendum.”

Voter registration is now closed and results will eventually be made public to uncertain reaction.

_____

Further Reading:

- Sudan Arrests SPLM SG Pagan Amum and Yasir Arman (Sudan Tribune)

- Sudanese Government Cracks Down on Opposition (Enough Project)

- UN Envoy Calls On Parties to Abide by Peace Pact in Wake of Political Violence (UN News Service)

- Sudanese Regime Crackdown Requires International Crackdown on Sudanese Regime (The Huffington Post)

The National Election Commission (NEC) and United Nations (UN) kicked off the largest ever registration of voters in Sudan ahead of April elections, one year later than the what the CPA had proposed. Over 5,000 registration personnel throughout all of Sudan will be registering voters in over 700 election constituencies.

voter registration educational poster

Sudan is Africa’s largest country, much of it being without existing infrastructure. The remoteness of the vast region is the biggest ever challenge in reaching out to potential voters. The semi-autonomous Southern Sudan is the geographic equivalent to the area of France.

Static Registration Centres are located in central locations with higher populations. They are supported by Mobile Teams that travel to remote areas of the South to register voters under the village tree and report back to the Static Centres. In a country where hardly anyone carries any identification papers, identification of potential voters can be difficult. According to NEC’s Election Law, an individual’s identity may be confirmed by three fellow villagers.

At the end of the process, registered voters will obtain a laminated slip of paper each with its its unique serial number. Proof of registration will help facilitate the work at the April 2010 elections polling stations. Only registered voters will be allowed to participate in the process of selecting government representatives of the Sudan in next year’s elections.

Logistical Challenges

Logistical challenges are enormous. Nearly 120,000 kgs of materials—including registration kits, forms and training supplies—are sent to initiate the November 1, 2009 registration period to locations identified by the National Elections Commission (NEC). The difficult operation needs all means of possible transport, including airplanes, helicopters, trucks, boats, motorbikes and pedestrian porters. Registration is particularly demanding but it is just an important warm-up for the challenges ahead with the April elections.

It is estimated that Sudan’s multi-level elections will require hundreds of millions of paper ballots, which are first printed then delivered to remote corners of a country the size of Western Europe. Each constituency requires three different ballot papers: one for political parties, another for the election of the guaranteed women representation and a third for each geographic constituency. For the entire country, the electoral process requires printing over 1200 different ballot papers for the election of all the legislative bodies. What renders this extremely difficult for providing each polling station with the material it needs to hold credible elections is the delivery of the appropriate ballots to each of the voting centers, and doing this on time.

This is considered our largest ever logistical operation. A voter education campaign, a voter registration process have just begun in a huge country with a complex political context. The April 2010 Sudan elections are first elections in 24 years, and four years after the end of a 21-year civil war.
Even without considering the complex and volatile political setting within which the Sudan elections are being held, the logistical challenges alone are collosal. Whether or not the challenges are to be met has yet to be seen.
_____

Maciej Nawrot works in Southern Sudan for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as a logistician in support to elections and democratic processes. He will be writing regular posts about the logistical challenges of organizing the April 2010 elections in Southern Sudan.

_____

UPDATE: the Sudan voter registration has been extended one week to end on December 7 instead of November 30  and the elections have been delayed by one week to begin on April 11 instead of April 5, 2010.

During a 7-week visit to Southern Sudan, I interviewed over a dozen Southern Sudanese men and women. Each person offers an intimate view of their lives during the 21-year civil war and since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. We get a glimpse into their family lives and their hope for a country with an uncertain future.

Alberto, tells about his education first in a Minor Seminary in Kenya, then in a Major Seminary in Khartoum toward his vocation of becoming a priest. He offers a glimpse into the family structure and community influence of being the son of the 19th wife of an Executive Chief. His hopes for a continued peace are revealed as are his willingness to take up arms should an unjust war return to Sudan.

Interview recorded in within the International Organization for Migration compound in Malualkon, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Southern Sudan. the street scenes were filmed from the front passenger seat of an IOM vehicle in the town of Aweil. The photographs were taken during various visits to various villages in Northern Bahr el Ghazal in March 2009.

Special thanks to everyone at the Malualkon office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and to the villagers in the area who shared their stories with me during my visit.

Click video portraits to view others in the series.

The material presented in the report comes from workshops in Malakal, Juba, Bor and Khartoum in May and June 2009, just after my own visit to Southern Sudan, although I went to Juba, Wau, Aweil and Abyei. Information comes from input during the workshops by local and international NGOs, faith group, politicians, government officials, civil society organizations and “others”.

The report defines four scenarios based on two uncertainties: 1) whether the country will be at war or at peace, and 2) whether the country will remain united or whether the south will secede from the north (see diagram below).

FOUR (five) SCENARIOS:

In the document’s executive summary, five main findings arose from the exercise of creating these four scenarios:

1. “It may not be wise to direct all long-term attention to developmental rather than humanitarian assistance.” because, the report stipulates, even in the best scenario (self-professed as the ‘CPA Hurray!’ scenario) “small-scale conflicts are still likely.”;
2. The ‘CPA Hurray!’ scenario is worth pursuing as a strategy because it “promises a less violent future.” But, according to this report (and this recent report), it “appears less plausible”.
3. The materialization of “free and fair elections is essential, not only to guarantee peace, but as the only peaceful way to bring about unity,” which according to September 2007 focus group survey, A Place to Call Their Own, as well as the report’s own southern focus groups, most Southerners do not want.
4. “Continuous outside mediation and pressure is needed to get all parties to implement the CPA and to make unity attractive.” It continues to explain that the “time horizon” needs more flexibility and needs to be extended beyond 2012. The need to talk about a “post-2012 period” is paramount particularly “about what unity might look like” to make the pre-2012 period “more manageable.”
5. “The critical difference between a successful and unsuccessful outcome will be to a large extent determined by whether the South has a stable, cooperative and confident leadership.”

The interesting future histories in Sudan between 2009-2012, created by the report’s author, lead to each of the four post-2012 Sudan scenarios are followed by the suggestions and policy options for the international community. They are well researched and seem to portray the current situation in Southern Sudan. Future histories are then formulated to create each of the four scenarios.

Based on the five main findings outlined above, the report seems to favour scenario #3, which represents the point of view of Northern focus groups, who view ‘CPA Hurray!’ as “a romantic but possible scenario.” The members of Southern focus groups expressed a belief that “a renewed war between the North and the South next to unavoidable” so scenarios one and two were most likely to them.

Possibly the most interesting element in the report is the identification by the Northern focus groups of a fifth “Stagnation’ scenario within the ‘no war’ and ‘united’ quadrant of the diagram. Based on a third uncertainty, which is given little attention these days, is the possibility that neither the 2010 elections nor the 2011 referendum will take place. They believe that “because elites in power in Khartoum and Juba have little to gain from [a election and a referendum], and prefer the present situation to continue.” This status quo situation would allow Sudanese and international actors to “muddle through, continuing to ‘band aid’ the Sudanese system together.”

During a 7-week visit to Southern Sudan, I interviewed about a dozen Southern Sudanese men and women. Each one offers an intimate view of their lives during the 21-year civil war and since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. We get a glimpse into their family lives and their hope for a country with an uncertain future.

Interview recorded in Warrap Town, and roving footage from back of motorbike recorded in Wau (March 2009).

Thanks to Martin Peter Siba Mungu for the tour of Wau from the back of his motorcycle.

_____

Click video portraits to view others in the series.

One day after the euphoria which galvanized the CPA celebration across Southern Sudan, local artists in Western Equatoria State have expressed anger and dismay with the state organizers of the memorable CPA celebration in 2010.

(Emmanuel Kembe and Jeffrey Campbell. Strong supporters of local musicians in South Sudan, courtesy SudanVotes)

The fifth and probably the last CPA celebrations took place in Yambio, the capital of Western Equatoria State on 19th January 2010. Independent observers say there was alot of expectations from the state’s local artists but the expectations turned into disappointment as none of the artists from Western Equatoria State were invited or given a chance to perform.  Some of them had been practicing for months with the hope that they would be part of the celebrations.

Unfair

Very unfair indeed – said some of the artists, “At least we need recognitions from our state government and the efforts [we] are doing by creating awareness about the CPA, Elections and HIV through [our] songs”; added one of the local artists Ms. Sweet J.

“I made a lot of arrangements in preparation for the celebrations and recorded a lot of music hoping that I will perform and sell some of my records, but now I am just giving them away to people for free” Sweet J stated.

“Our colleagues from Upper Nile and Central Equatoria states who were invited to perform in Nzara felt sorry for us and asked us to join them as we were bored” said Ambassador Koko one of the local Yambio artists.

Western Equatoria Expert Mr. Justin Wannis observes that, Congolese Music Legend, Kanda Bongo man from neighboring DRC was also allowed to perform at the CPA celebrations in Yambio for the sum of $20,000 an amount that could help the local artist to develop.

He disclosed to me that Kanda Bongo man sympathized with the local musicians and took some of the local artists with him inside the stadium to perform so that they can learn or benefit from his skills but then the artists were sent out by the organizers.  Wannis asks that, “when is the state going to recognize the talents of its own sons/daughters?”  “This event could have exposed the local artists to the outside states and encourage them to develop speedily but the organizers decided against this, said one of the artists who requested anonymity.

Sudan Votes contacted  the CPA organizers, the state High Level Committee for the 5th anniversary. Deputy Governor Col Joseph Ngere who heads the State High Level Committee vehemently denied the complain filed by the WES local artists. He says that, the local musicians were put on the list to perform after Kanda Bongo Man, adding that he and State Governor had left when Bongo was still happening, after that he did not know what happened.

Deputy Governor further revealed that, “after receiving complaints from the local artists he facilitated the musicians logistical for their bid to perform,” however Sudan Votes could not verify this claim independently.

Tutu Phina one of the local rocking artists alleged that, “there was something fishy concerning the humiliation they (WES Musicians) have experienced from their own government, adding that, “in fact Mr. Journalist, I don’t know which term I can use to express and describe the ordeal and [our] disappointments as WES musicians.  Our songs were barred over the FM radio in hours leading to the CPA celebration.”

Local observers say, the latest complain from the host musicians is one of many complains coming from the civilians, the intended beneficiaries, who had hoped to benefit from the multi million event, many civilians were encouraged by the state government to lay bricks, but to their surprise most of the construction works for the CPA were done using imported concrete bricks from Juba leaving most of WES young men in dilemma and mistrust against the state government.

Musicians warn that, such maltreatment may impede the young music industry in the Western Equatorial state and hinder the economic growth of local artists.

66 million Sudanese Pounds was allocated and approved for the 5th CPA event; the state is yet to account to the masses or to Sudanvotes how the money has been spent.  We wait for their response.

Without context, the article is no more than another record of ‘tribal’ violence in an African country already mired by war. Without prior knowledge of the situation in Southern Sudan—and the Canadian media provides very little—the details are meaningless. Actually, Southern Sudan is in a post-war renaissance that may lead to a lasting peace, self-determination and independence; if, and only if, they can hold on to the four-year-old peace that Le Devoir describes as “already fragile.”

It’s important that news about Southern Sudan gets reported because newsworthy stories in Sudan are not just related to Darfur or to the International Criminal Court indictment of Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, which deserve media attention for the international condemnation and reduction of human rights abuses that can come from exposure. But the situation in Southern Sudan is also in need of media scrutiny to support democratization and to help maintain a fragile peace deal that ended Africa’s longest civil war between the government of Sudan and the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Army.

Sudan’s second civil war since its 1956 independence from British colonialism, lasted 21 years and officially ended on January 9, 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in neighbouring Nairobi, Kenya. The CPA set up a power-sharing structure between the central government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement with the creation of a coalition Government of National Unity for all of Sudan and the Government of Southern Sudan; both with new interim constitutions. The agreement allows for the transformation of the Southern rebel forces into a regular army for semi-autonomous Southern Sudan with Joint Integrated Units of both armies in specific border areas. It prescribes oil revenue-sharing protocols and the establishment of a border between the north and south of Sudan, which will transect oil-producing areas.

An interim period of six years is established to implement the peace agreement, after which the South can hold a referendum to decide to remain within Sudan or to opt for complete independence. This is tentatively scheduled for 2011.

Approximately two million people were killed during the war and about four million were displaced from their homes to other regions of Sudan and nearly one million refugees fled to neighbouring countries. Since its independence 53 years ago, Sudan has been at peace for only 15 of those years (1972-1983: Addis Ababa Agreement, and since the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement). Despite these statistics, almost no editorial space in Canadian media is given to the current situation in Southern Sudan.

Media attention of the region was particularly abundant during the 1988 famine when more than 250,000 people starved to death. But since the signing of the peace deal, the media has focussed more on the conflict in Darfur than the tenuous peace in the South. The negotiations of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with former southern rebels may have added to the current civil war in Darfur, whose own rebels wanted to be included in peace negotiations but were kept from it.

Sudan presently hosts the largest United Nations mission in the world (not including the UN African Union Mission in Darfur) with a mandate of “supporting the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement… [and] facilitating the voluntary return of refugees and displaced persons.”

Why is the movement of refugees and displaced people more newsworthy when they flee war and persecution than when they return to the homelands they were previously forced to flee? The story of returnees to the south is a mirror into the future for Darfur refugees whose current situation is a glimpse into the past for the Southern Sudanese still struggling with their new peacetime conditions.

According to Amnesty International, the civil war now raging in Darfur has displaced more than 2.25 million people since 2003, while IRIN reports that more than 2.24 million Southern Sudanese have returned to their homeland since 2005. Both are impressive migrations of people that require an important amount of support from the United Nations and other NGOs to help them resettle. Donor countries like Canada (via CIDA, page 16), which provides $66.8 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan, have an influence in Sudan’s future and also need journalistic scrutiny.

Those that return to their homeland in the south believe that the peace deal will endure and are eager to help rebuild the country, while many are still unwilling to return for fear of the reoccurrence of war. Those that do return, discover that—in many areas—living conditions in the war-ravaged south are more difficult than the areas where they are returning from: lack of sufficient drinking water, no schools, nor clinics and a difficult means for livelihood generation. Most arrive in their homeland after more than a decade of absence with little more than a few belongings. NGOs provide some with a tarp to set up a temporary shelter, blankets, water containers, cooking utensils and other non-food items, while the World Food Program provides food subsidies.

Being a refugee from war and a returnee to peace—both in Sudan—look all too similar and deserve equal attention. Media attention about Darfur needs to continue to help end the war there and it needs to begin about Southern Sudan to help it cling to its tenuous peace.

[translated and published in French in Le Couac)