Ahmed Haroun

As a direct victim of Ahmed Haroun’s criminal actions in Darfur, I was very concerned about the implications of the election of an indicted war criminal to rule over the people of South Kordofan (also known as Nuba Mountains) who have been victimized by two decades war in Sudan. Ahmed Haroun is wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur, and were recently elected as governor of South Kordofan. Two weeks ago, I spoke to a fellow member of the Sudanese diaspora, H. Hassan, a Virginia based human rights advocate and policy analyst from Nuba Mountains. Before the election Hassan stated,  “if Haroun wins, it will be a disaster for the entire region, because, it will not only have implications in the areas of the Nuba Mountains and the popular consultation, it will give al-Bashir’s regime strong ground to destabilize Abyei in an attempt to jeopardize the declaration of the new country.”

In a letter signed by over 20 of the preeminent Sudanese advocates, human rights activist and civil society leaders in the US, that was sent to the United Nations Security Council yesterday, members of the diaspora expressed their grave concerns and warned about the implications of the election of Ahmed Haroun the wanted war criminal by the ICC in South Kordofan saying:

“We fear that the tactics employed by the NCP to declare Ahmed Haroun the winner of the gubernatorial elections is an effort by the Sudanese government to protect the indicted war criminal from persecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

We are greatly concerned that this unprecedented development will lead to disruption of the popular consultation process in Southern Kordofan, a key part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), and affect the situation in Abyei, drawing the region back into conflict that could engulf the whole of Sudan.”

Click here to read the full letter

The attack on Abyei is confirming the legitimacy of our concerns raised written before the attack on Abyei.  The attacks on Abyei are the first test of the implication of the elections of Haroun in South Kordofan and the US government and the international community should be mindful of its consequences.

Update on Darfur: The situation in Darfur continues to show little improvement over the last couple of years. Following recent protests throughout Darfur, the Sudanese government arrested  activists and oppressed those voicing their opinions. The peace talks in Doha are rapidly evolving. On April 27, U.N./A.U. mediators gave their final version of a peace agreement to government and rebel groups. However, it has turned into a problematic document due to the fact that it does not cover everything negotiated.  Increasingly, it looks like this will not be a final version, and more negotiations will be necessary, pushing back the original May 23 deadline. Also postponed is the civil society conference, originally slated to take place this week. The leading mediator, Gabriel Basole, may leave the talks soon to become foreign minister of his home country Burkina Faso. Appointing a new mediator who is approved by the U.N. and A.U. will be essential.

Elections in South Kordofan. Source: AFP

South Kordofan Elections: The vote counting process for the state elections recently held in South Kordofan is currently underway. Although it is too soon to determine if the vote can be considered free and fair, S.P.L.M. has already walked out of the vote counting process. The outcome of these elections will be a key marker for whether the North and South are taking implementation of the C.P.A. seriously.

Post-call update: The National Congress Party (N.C.P.) candidate and incumbent, Ahmed Haroun, won the gubernatorial seat in Southern Kordofan’s elections according to the National Elections Commission (N.E.C.). He won the governorship with 201,455 votes, while the S.P.L.M. candidate, Abdel Aziz Al-Hilu, earned 194,955 votes. Last Friday the S.P.L.M. and Al-Hilu pulled out of the hotly contested election, claiming the vote was rigged.

South Sudan Independence: Independence for South Sudan is on schedule for July 9. SDC/GI-NET is concerned that the United States may give incentives to the Sudanese government too soon.  We are pushing for no incentives until the Sudanese government is held accountable and demonstrates its commitment to peace.

Colonel Gaddafi

Libya: Recent weeks have seen an increase in rebel capacity and there is still heavy fighting in and around Misrata. Conflict in Libya continues to be a threat to civilians.

Post-call update: The I.C.C. has requested arrest warrants for Colonel Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and the head of Libya’s intelligence service, Abdullah al-Senussi on crimes against humanity.

Syria: SDC/GI-NET has been following the cycle of violent oppression that has been taking place in Syria for over a month. Recently there has been an increase in the targeting for civilians which is of great concern. We have issued a press statement and will continue to follow the situation.

If you missed the call, listen here to find out all the details.

Key Elections begin in Southern Kordofan. Source: AFP

According to a report by the BBC, voting so far has been peaceful, but tensions are expected to rise when the official results are released next week.  International attention will have to be sustained as a popular consultation takes place over whether the CPA has addressed the concerns of the people of Southern Kordofan.

A group of non-governmental organizations, including Genocide Intervention Network/Save Darfur Coalition sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressing concern for a lack of international engagement and the need for sustained attention.  Thousands of activists also signed a petition to Ban and to US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice last week calling for international monitoring and support both during and after the elections and popular consultation.

As highlighted in the NGO letter, “As a key state along the volatile North-South border, and adjacent to both Darfur and Abyei,  Southern Kordofan is a lynchpin for stability throughout Sudan.”  It is set to remain in the north but will have a significant population of former southern rebels, including tens of thousands who still need to return from the south.  Former rebel leader and current deputy governor, Abdel Azziz Adam al-Hilu, is running against incumbent governor Ahmed Haroun, a representative of the main northern party and wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur.  Protests are already planned for shortly after the results are announced.

GI-Net/SDC will be following the situation closely and will provide further updates as events develop.

Southern Kordofan. Source: Wikipedia

On the verge of a new nation’s birth, in a region wracked by decades of war, a man considered a hero by the rebel army takes on an internationally indicted war criminal in the race for governor.  As campaign rhetoric heats up to dangerous levels, satellites capture the destruction of the lead candidate’s home village.  It sounds like the beginnings of a Hollywood movie or some kind of war novel, but it is the actual scene that is playing out in the state of Southern Kordofan in Sudan.

On May 2nd, just two months before South Sudan officially becomes the newest nation in the world, the people of Southern Kordofan will begin voting for a state legislature and new governor.  This election will have vast implications for peace, security, and justice both in and between the two new Sudans.  Protests are already planned and observers from the Carter Center warned yesterday about tensions reducing the credibility of the elections.  If war is not to be the result of this script, the world must pay attention by providing international observers, supporting those who are there, and by empowering the civil society in Southern Kordofan.

Click here to join thousands of others in calling for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice to lead the international community in ensuring these elections do not lead to further violence in Sudan.

Southern Kordofan saw some of the most intense fighting during the 22-year Sudanese civil war and is directly linked to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that brought that war to an end. One of the stipulations of the CPA is that there are to be popular consultations held in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile to allow their residents a say in how they will fit into the new North.  The consultations in Southern Kordofan cannot begin until the election has taken place.

Complicating matters is the fact that an estimated 30,000-50,000 former southern army (SPLA) troops will remain in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan after southern secession.  Southern Kordofan also borders Abyei, the key flashpoint border region whose status remains undetermined.  Unrest in Southern Kordofan could easily feed into continued tensions in Abyei, where both the North and South have been building up military forces.  Just yesterday, President Bashir raised tensions at a rally in Southern Kordofan by stating that Abyei would remain in the north and that he was prepared to return to war if the southern army caused trouble in Southern Kordofan.

The elections beginning on Monday will be the first real test case for how the government in Khartoum will deal with demands of groups outside of the capital after the main opposition group leaves to become the new Republic of South Sudan.  While the South breaks away, the same decades-long core-periphery dynamic in which an elite in Khartoum profits at the expense of others will continue in the “new South” of Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, in the East, and in Darfur.  Failure to accommodate the demands of Southern Kordofan may only be a precursor to wider spread tensions in the new North.

We will be closely watching the elections that begin on Monday.  To learn more about the elections in Southern Kordofan read this backgrounder by Sudan expert Aly Verjee.

Please join us by contacting Secretary General Ban and Ambassador Susan Rice, and asking them to do all they can to ensure the credibility of the elections in South Kordofan and prevent further violence in Sudan.

The region of South Kordofan, which is also known as the Nuba Mountains, has a long history of violence and saw some of the most intense fighting during the 22-year Sudanese Civil War. The impending separation of South Sudan and its proximity to the region of Abyei, which has seen increased military presence over the last few weeks, are also increasing tension in the region.

The Satellite Sentinel Project has captured images showing evidence of several violent attacks on the village of el-Feid in the Nuba Mountains. Attackers razed over 350 structures, and caused 19 deaths and 29 injuries.  El-Feid is the home of Abdelaziz al-Hilu, a leading candidate for governor, who has blamed northern-aligned militias for the attack. One of al-Hilu’s main opponents is Ahmed Haroun, a man who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in orchestrating the genocide in Darfur.

Click on picture to enlarge

The Carter Center has already identified major shortcomings in the voter registration process. The Sudanese government’s history of rigging elections, Haroun’s violent past, and increased tensions in the region all indicate clearly that the international community must focus on preventing an outbreak of violence in the South Kordofan region. If the election is viewed as illegitimate by the people, then there is a strong likelihood that violent conflict will result.

SDC/GI-NET is calling on U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon to:

• Focus the international community on South Kordofan’s May 2-4 elections.
• Insist on a robust international vote monitoring presence.
• Ensure a future U.N peacekeeping mandate that prioritizes civilian protection.
• Demand an international border monitoring mechanism with access to tense border areas in both the South and the North.

Please join us by contacting Secretary General Ban and Ambassador Susan Rice, and asking them to do all they can to ensure the credibility of the elections in South Kordofan and prevent further violence in Sudan.

Just over one month ago, violence broke out in Cote d’Ivoire between supporters of incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo and internationally recognized President Elect Alasane Ouattara. The situation is becoming more serious, with the United Nations Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide stating their grave concerns about the “…possibility of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Côte d’Ivoire.” GI-NET/SDC has been monitoring the situation for the past month and is closely watching developments at they unfold.

While supporters of President-elect Ouattara remain at risk of attack by security forces linked with Laurent Gbagbo in the commercial capital of Abidjan, reports of fighting between ethnic groups in western Côte d’Ivoire are increasing. According to GI-NET/SDC research, these clashes may be responsible for much of the increase in fatalities over the last two weeks, including at least 49 dead and the displacement of more than 30,000 people.

The international community has already taken swift action to respond to the situation. The United Nations authorized the deployment of more than 2,000 additional troops to the peacekeeping mission in the county. Additionally, the United States and European Union have put travel bans and financial sanctions in place against Laurent Gbagbo and his closest advisors.

Even though the African Union and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have repeatedly send mediators to convince Mr. Gbagbo to give up power, these efforts have yet to bear fruit.

Kofi Annan and Jimmy Carter / Photo: The Elders

Two members of The Elders – an independent group of eminent global leaders who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity – will travel to Sudan to observe next week’s referendum on Southern Sudanese independence. Former US President Jimmy Carter and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will be part of The Carter Center’s international observation mission.

The Elders have urged international and Sudanese officials across the country to ensure that the rights of all voters are respected in the week-long referendum beginning on Sunday, 9 January 2011.

Two members of The Elders, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, will observe the referendum process as part of the Carter Center’s international observation mission.

The vote on self-determination for Southern Sudan is part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended more than 20 years of war between north and south Sudan. 3.9 million people have registered to vote, more than half of them women.

Read more

Video from the event is available above and on the Cato Institute’s website.

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Sean Brooks, Save Darfur’s Senior Policy Analyst, will be speaking at a Cato Institute policy forum tomorrow afternoon to discuss Sudan in the post-election period. You can register to attend the event (at Cato’s headquarters in Washington, DC) or watch it live on their website.

POLICY FORUM
Friday, June 11, 2010
Noon (Luncheon to Follow)

Featuring Sean Brooks, Save Darfur Coalition; Marc Gustafson, Marshall Scholar, Oxford University; Jon Temin, U.S. Institute for Peace; moderated by Justin Logan, Associate Director of Foreign Policy Studies, Cato Institute.

The Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001

A new military offensive in Darfur, the arrest of political leaders, and the shutting down of newspapers in Khartoum: election season must be over in Sudan. Emboldened by electoral “success,” Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP) are sending troubling signals about their philosophy that will guide post-election governance.

The push last Friday by the Sudanese Armed Forces to regain control over a stronghold of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in West Darfur kicked off seven days of violence and repression. The army reported that it killed 108 JEM fighters in the assault. Elsewhere in Darfur, JEM allegedly attacked a tanker truck killing 20 Sudanese police officers. Continued clashes between nomadic tribes and the kidnapping of humanitarian aid workers – including an American – have only heightened tensions throughout Darfur.

Commenting yesterday on these recent developments before the United Nations Security Council, the Joint Special Representative for the United Nations/African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) stated that continued fighting in Darfur has “caused substantial civilian casualties, the displacement of communities, and hampered the delivery of humanitarian assistance.” The U.S. State Department earlier in the week also condemned the “recent offensive actions in Darfur” and “urged both the Government of Sudan and the Darfur rebel movements to refrain from any further actions that would undermine the Darfur peace process or endanger civilians.”

Yet, blithely ignoring the deteriorating conditions in Darfur, an NCP leader told Darfuri students this week that his party was seeking to deepen peace and foster a culture of national unity (article in Arabic). Most people in Darfur instead fear that the faltering peace process, government offensive, and continuing crisis in Jebel Marra proffer a new post-election reality.

Critics and opposition leaders in Khartoum share such concerns. On Saturday, national security forces arrested the leader of the opposition Popular Congress Party, Dr. Hassan Al Turabi, who has spoken out about the fraudulent elections. Security agents also stormed the offices of Turabi’s paper, closed the building, and confiscated materials, and arrested three journalists and the managing editor of the paper. Later in the week, two more newspapers were targeted by security agents and one other opposition leader was detained for three hours of interrogation. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies reports that the raids on the newspapers indicated that Sudanese authorities have renewed their use of pre-print censorship to suppress political opinion.

Taken together, the apparent crackdown on opposition leaders and newspapers, along with a military offensive in Darfur, appears to represent a dangerous new course chosen by the Bashir government. With this emboldened mentality, a peace agreement in Darfur will remain elusive and politics in Khartoum will become even more polarized. There is also the question of which face the regime will put forward while implementing the final stages of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. If Bashir and the NCP approach the upcoming referendum for South Sudan in the same way that they have taken on Darfur and the northern opposition this week, peace for the entire country could be in jeopardy.

It is for this reason that today the Save Darfur Coalition sent a letter to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Scott Gration urging the United States “to issue a forceful statement that these actions are completely unacceptable and that, if they continue, Bashir and the hardliners in his party will face new consequences and only isolate themselves further” (full text here). Highlighting the warnings from UNAMID about the situation in Darfur, this letter also asked “the United States to lead the international community in applying appropriate pressure on both the Sudanese government and the Darfur armed rebel movements” so that UNAMID can carry out its mission to protect civilians robustly and effectively. On this issue, the Save Darfur Coalition sent another letter this week with recommendations on improving security to the United Nations Security Council.

Next week Omar Al Bashir will participate in presidential inaugural festivities. Human Rights Watch has urged governments to boycott the inauguration in light of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against the Sudanese president. This would be a necessary but not sufficient statement from the international community. Those within the regime in Khartoum must understand that political impunity cannot be attained through fraudulent elections and, moreover, that their recent actions undermine any concurrent promises of reform and peace. Unless this message is clearly sent from the United States and other countries, the current political trajectory of Bashir and the NCP will have no reason to change, which would endanger even more innocent lives in Sudan.

Sean P. Brooks is a policy expert at the Save Darfur Coalition. He recently returned from a trip to Sudan during which he spent a week in Darfur.

Sudanese Authorities Renew Use of Pre-Print Censorship to Suppress Political Opinion

Contact: Osman Hummaida, Executive Director
Phone: +44 7956095738
E-mail: osman@acjps.org

(20 May 2010) In the evening of Wednesday, 19 May, three National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) officers visited the offices of the newspaper Ajras Alhurria, which is perceived as aligned with the SPLM. The officers demanded to see the following day’s edition.

The officers ordered that six out of 12 of the pages of the newspaper be deleted. This material included regular columns, general news, and opinion pieces. Ajras Alhurria could not publish a newspaper on Thursday as so much content had been removed. After their tour of Ajras Alhurria’s offices, they similarly censored Alsahafa and Al Sudani newspapers prior to the publication of Thursday’s edition. At Alsahafa, NISS agents demanded to see editorial material and opinion columns. Its editor, Al-Nur Ahmed Al-Nur, stated that the censorship constituted “a step backwards in the democratic transformation of the country”.

Much of the material censored by NISS agents regarded commentary on the arrest of Dr. Hassan Al Turabi, leader of the opposition Popular Congress Party, and the closure of the Rai Alshaab newspaper and arrest of members of its staff. Other articles censored included news critical of the attack on civil liberties in Sudan and about Dr. Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

At the time, both the NISS and the Press and Publications Council, the regulatory body governing the Press and Publications Act, stated that the NISS and the Council both have respect for the 2005 Sudan Interim National Constitution, and that the arrests and closure would not impact the overall process of democratic transformation and liberalisation of civil liberties in the country. Deputy editor of Ajras Alhurria newspaper Fayiz Silaik asserted that the “return of control and censorship confirms that the elections brought the fourth version of the Ingaz regime, and this new government does not respect the freedom of expression, as verified by the calls, interrogations, and trials of journalists. This is the fiercest attack on the Sudanese journalists in recent history”.

In late September 2009, President Bashir announced that the policy of pre-print censorship would be halted. However, statements issued afterwards warned journalists that they should avoid publishing “what leads to exceeding red lines and avoid mixing what is patriotic and what is destructive to the nation”. Aside from pre-publication censorship, there are a host of other mechanisms for Sudanese authorities to control publication of newspapers in Sudan through the Press and Publications Act of 2009.

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies condemns the use of pre-publication censorship, which places severe constraints on freedom of expression, and the Sudanese public have little access to information. The practice violates freedom of expression as guaranteed by Article 39 of the 2005 Interim National Constitution, Article 19 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. ACJPS calls on the government of Sudan to reform the Press and Publications Act to include provisions to halt the use of pre-print censorship, an issue on which the Act is silent. The law must also further clarify and strictly delimit the exceptional circumstance in which concerns of “national security, order, and public health” may justify censorship.