The Catholic Bishop of Rumbek in South Sudan has issued a statement warning that the region “finds itself in not one but several crises”.
Bishop Caesar Mazzolari, mccj, has described the “tense current situation in Sudan” as a “matter of concern” and he says that in spite of the Comprehensive Peace Accord of 2005, a “cold war” atmosphere of tension between North and South prevails in Sudan today.
He highlights that conflict between the North and South is currently limited to brief clashes, but over the entire country criminality, violence and tension are rampant, particularly in the South.
Referring to “an alarming rise in criminality and abject poverty”, he says these have resulted in “rampant insecurity, unrest, and brutal violence”.
The Italian-born Camboni warns that these internal conflicts have the ability to “escalate into a rapid return to open warfare”.
Highlighting his concerns over the postponement of the national elections from July 2009 to April 2010 or later, he accuses the government in Khartoum of “a purposeful lack of preparation” and suggests that it “also reveals an intentional and purposeful disruption of fair and free elections by the Khartoum government”.
Next year’s elections will form the basis on which the referendum on the South's secession in 2011 is conducted. The national elections are seen as a barometer to measure the effectiveness and capability of the electoral process of Sudan as a whole.
Bishop Mazzolari warns that should the elections suffer as the census was made to suffer in 2008, with “long postponements and lack of preparation and equipment, as well as violent intimidation by the militias, then the referendum will be affected very negatively”.
He claims that the postponement of the elections until April 2010, or maybe June 2010, has “already damaged the prospects of an easily accessible election”.
At the moment the bishop says that the most fundamental need in Sudan is the need for basic physical security and protection.
“In many parts of Sudan, government-backed militias terrorise the population, increasing fear and heightening tension between tribes and ethnic groups. This systematic terrorisation, so publicised in Darfur but present in many areas, will certainly destroy any hope of elections unless the security of voters and candidates can be assured”, he says.
He calls for the presence of the participants of the CPA and of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) countries of the Horn of Africa to implement a process to oversee the electoral process through training and preparing the people to vote in the elections, and also for those responsible for implementing the election, observing and monitoring “so that a fair, free and secure democratic process is carried out”.
He also calls for involvement of the international community so that the elections are prepared for properly and are monitored and regulated.
The Bishop suggests that any further delays in the elections risks jeopardising not only the electoral process, but also the Comprehensive Peace Agreement as a whole.
The cessation of open warfare between Northern and Southern forces after over two decades of civil war began on 9 January 2005 with the official signing of the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement) in Nairobi, Kenya.
The signing of peace ended the bombings of civilians and open military conflict between the North and the South that had been ongoing since 1983.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement called for a series of steps to be taken in order to end the conflict, and to develop and rebuild the South, and put in place a democratic process for semi-autonomous self-government followed by a referendum on whether or not the South should secede from the North.
Nearly five years since the signing of the CPA, Bishop Mazzolari claims that the six protocols stated in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement have either been implemented in a much delayed fashion, or not fully implemented, particularly for the people of the South.
He gives a stark warning that the “undermining of the free electoral process and democratic procedures in Southern Sudan by outside forces is well underway. Unless the international community intervenes immediately, by the time the full effects of the democratic sabotage are felt, it will be too late for the people of Southern Sudan.”
