Unemployed El Fula angry on government South Kordofan

An angry crowd of unemployed graduates shouted slogans in front of the government ministries in El Fula, South Kordofan. The group gathered on Thursday demanding the authorities to provide them with jobs. It was the third time in two months time that they protested, but for the first time it became a larger demonstration. At several places outside Darfur, spontaneous protests are appearing. The demonstrators said that the politicians have promised jobs during the electoral campaigns, but nothing has been implemented. The elections in South Kordofan have to take place in a month time, although several parties push to postpone the elections. The demonstrators say they will vote against the current ruling parties when they do not solve their demands.

The Umma Party and the Popular Congress Party announced on Thursday that they would not contest in the elections in South Kordofan. “Our party has decided not to participate in the election of state governor because it has become a contest for which the ruling parties harnessed state resources,” the Umma Party said in a press release seen by Sudan Tribune. The party  warned that the climate in South Kordofan was charged and that the competing parties would not accept the results. The Popular Congress party of th detained Hassan al Turabi said it had decided to boycott the elections on all levels due to the “flagrant rigging” in the re-drawing of geographic constituencies and the NCP’s “shameless” use of public fund and state media in supporting the electoral campaign of its candidate Ahmed Haroun, who is indicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes in Darfur.