The Political Parties Council for southern Sudan was officially launched in Juba today. In his introductory remarks, Vice President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Riek Machar, noted the importance of the Political Parties Council, and also said, “We have

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The ongoing debate about whether the April election should be postponed or not has entered a new phase, as the Presidency will discuss it on Tuesday, and according to the outcome of that meeting, the Juba Alliance will meet and

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The coming election in Sudan is one of the most complicated elections in the world. In the north people have to vote eight times and twelve times in the south, that in a country with around 70% rate of illiteracy.

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On the eve of the elections, a new report by the Rift Valley Institute explains Sudan’s electoral system, analyses errors in constituency demarcation and warns of potential obstacles to the electoral process. The report highlights the strengths and shortcomings of

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Further to my posting yesterday, I am excerpting a few lines from President Buyoya’s speech to the summit of political parties in southern Sudan on 1 March: “During the long years of war, the people of southern Sudan demonstrated that

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An article in the East African newspaper yesterday speculated that western nations were backtracking on their commitment to self-determination in southern Sudan. Based on unnamed sources, and with no hard evidence, and with just one quote from a US embassy

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The website, www.electionnaire.com provides an online guide to the parties’ political programmes. It asks you for your position on 30 different issues facing Sudan, from the CPA and national unity to the health services and educational curricula, and depending on

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A couple of weeks ago a local TV channel showed a ballot for the presidential election and it had the incumbent Omer Al-Bashir at the top of the list. The candidate at the top has a definite advantage when it

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In a keen analysis published on this blog, Eddie Thomas aptly diagnosed the challenges and risks present in “the final act of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)”—which includes next month’s nationwide elections, the South’s self-determination referendum in January 2011, and

Read the rest of Sudan: Considering the Role of Internationals in the North-South Negotiations »

The British Associate Parliamentary Group Report on Sudan, based on six months’ of hearings and testimonies from a wide range of Sudanese and international stakeholders, was released in London yesterday. The report is entitled On the Brink: Towards Lasting Peace

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