(AFP) – 1 day ago

KHARTOUM — US envoy to Sudan Scott Gration arrived on Wednesday for talks as disagreements within a commission tasked with organising a southern independence referendum threatened to delay the January vote.

A diplomat in the Sudanese capital said Gration’s visit was expected to last for several days.

His trip comes as the commission responsible for organising the vote is deadlocked over the appointment of a secretary general to start work on technical and administrative regulations for referendum.

The US State Department said before Gration’s visit there were “concerns” over the schedule of the vote, a key part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a two-decade-long civil war between north and south.

“There?s obviously concerns,” said spokesman Mark Toner. “We?re working with key stakeholders to address those concerns,” he said, according a transcript on the State Department’s website.

“We believe that keeping the referenda on track is part of building a lasting peace and our ultimate goal is, obviously, full implementation of the CPA. So we don?t want to see any delays.”

The commission, formed in June, has still not begun the laborious process of voter registration which is expected to take several weeks at least.

Other outstanding issues ahead of the referendum include the demarcation of north-south borders, with Khartoum and the southern capital Juba still at loggerheads over five distinct sites along the tentative border.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved

Voices for Sudan (VFS) was founded by a diverse coalition representing many ethnic and regional groups to advocate for lasting and sustainable peace, justice and economic development in our homeland—a nation troubled by more than 50 years of war and violence.

Sudan has been beset by conflict for most of its history since independence in 1956. These conflicts have resulted in the death of more than two million individuals and the largest internally displaced population in the world—some four million—in south Sudan alone. In Darfur, according to UN figures as many as 300,000 people have died since the conflict began and some 2.7 million have fled their homes.

While many in the international community are well acquainted with ongoing conflicts in Southern Sudan and Darfur, residents of the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile, Eastern Sudan and Nubia regions also face grave threats to life and liberty. As a coalition of respected advocates, VFS seeks a comprehensive solution to instability in all regions of the country.

Through pressure from the United States and the international community, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in 2005 between South and North, ending the protracted war. Despite the signing of CPA, grave internal conflicts remain widespread in Southern Sudan and in the Darfur region. VFS believes that the CPA is a cornerstone of the peace process in Sudan, and that implementation of the CPA must be pursued and supported. Therefore, it is important to develop a framework for peace that is modeled on the CPA structure and that grants distribution of powers, wealth sharing, security arrangements, and rights to land.

The CPA provides a path for elections in 2010, which may lead to democratic transformation of the country. A government committed to address Sudan’s fundamental problems of conflict within itself would lead the country on a new path of peace and prosperity. A successful election requires a strong, well-organized and coordinated approach by opposition groups, empowering periphery leadership and positioning them to play a strategic and constructive role in the process.

VFS contends that the Darfur-groups must be united in order to direct efforts towards peace, agreeing on a common platform for negotiations, and power-sharing structures.

The complexity of Sudan’s issues and realizing the long-term goal of sustainable peace in Sudan requires a joint effort and investment by Sudanese and international organizations. Voices for Sudan, therefore; proposed this project to support a Diaspora advocacy program that seeks to unite the voices of Sudanese from all regions of Sudan and the support of allies from all nations and all faiths who are inspired to stand as a witness for Sudan.

Nunc non elit at sem feugiat aliquam in id lorem. Praesent viverra lacus ut dui ultricies non ultrices magna facilisis. Nulla sagittis quam eget quam vestibulum porta. Donec eleifend condimentum libero nec ultrices. Etiam congue, arcu in fermentum varius, arcu felis pretium quam, sit amet placerat elit leo nec est. Mauris ultrices scelerisque mi eget feugiat. Integer sodales ante imperdiet leo pretium rhoncus. Proin in consequat quam. Donec id suscipit sapien. Sed scelerisque elementum condimentum. Sed lobortis pulvinar consectetur. Praesent purus massa, hendrerit quis congue non, rutrum quis erat. Phasellus accumsan iaculis hendrerit.

Aliquam sit amet orci et elit vestibulum facilisis id vel leo. Phasellus pellentesque, elit a tincidunt placerat, nunc tortor tristique erat, molestie luctus sem elit a neque. Suspendisse potenti. Curabitur ut purus ac purus volutpat fermentum. Pellentesque accumsan tincidunt justo eget rhoncus. Praesent blandit lobortis varius. Maecenas pulvinar mattis bibendum. Aenean interdum urna ut orci bibendum at blandit enim elementum. Vivamus mollis diam fringilla elit pretium aliquam. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Quisque vel pellentesque urna. Etiam mattis, erat ac ultrices pellentesque, massa orci eleifend magna, vitae dignissim nunc nisi eget mi. In a felis risus, et laoreet magna. Nunc scelerisque mollis malesuada. Curabitur dolor sapien, sodales eget ornare ac, luctus vel dui.

Aliquam ultricies facilisis erat sit amet tempor. Ut id malesuada nibh. Praesent ac tortor lacus, id sollicitudin felis. Nam non nunc id tellus auctor auctor. Nunc eget nibh quis est cursus bibendum sed a leo. Ut euismod viverra felis ut auctor. Nulla facilisi. Maecenas massa urna, venenatis eu rhoncus consectetur, suscipit vel felis. Donec mattis fermentum dolor at tincidunt. Praesent ut eros vel massa posuere tincidunt euismod ut urna. Curabitur ultrices justo eu dui pharetra dignissim. Aenean blandit porta varius. Sed urna sem, consectetur tempus aliquam vitae, ultrices sed leo. Fusce malesuada, velit ultricies placerat suscipit, orci neque tincidunt tellus, non accumsan sem est a orci.