‘Darfur referendum grotesque’: activist

The referendum on the administrative status of Darfur scheduled to take place on 11-13 April will lead to further fragmentation of the region, according to a Darfuri civil society activist.

Ibtisam Shumein, member of several Darfuri women’s organisations, told Radio Dabanga on Monday that “the referendum which the government is planning to run in the five Darfur states will neither bring stability to the region nor return it to its previous status of one province.

“The government is using the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) for its own agenda objectives,” she said. “Considering the rampant insecurity in the entire region, a referendum on the administrative status can only be called grotesque.”

Shumein also questioned the rationale behind the exclusion of Darfuris living abroad.

She added that the “result of the referendum is known in advance anyhow, which is the continuation of the status quo. And this will only lead to the further fragmentation of Darfur”.

Diaspora

The chairman of the government’s Darfur Referendum Commission explained to reporters in Khartoum on 12 January that Sudanese migrants and refugees are excluded from the referendum, as the “process is related to the provision of services and development objectives targeting the Sudanese within the borders of Darfur”.

Foreign organisations

On Tuesday, Mohamed Atta El Moula Abbas. Director of the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), warned foreign organisations working in Darfur against interfering in the referendum.

“These organisations have a humanitarian role only,” he said. “They have no right to talk about the referendum process and interfere in the people’s options to participate or not, as the referendum is an internal Sudanese process.”

DDPD

The Darfur referendum is stipulated in the DDPD that was signed in July 2011 by the Sudanese government and the Liberation and Justice Movement, a coalition of 19 breakaway factions of the Darfur rebel movements formed the year before.

The referendum was supposed to be held within one year after the signing of the peace accord. Last October, President Omar Al Bashir announced that the referendum will take place in April 2016.

Darfuris living in the camps for the displaced, Sudanese opposition parties, and civil society activists have expressed grave concerns about holding the referendum in the current circumstances.