Carter Center cites obstacles ahead of Sudan vote

Permit delays, lack of funds and security intimidation are obstructing international and local observers from monitoring registration for Sudan's first ever nationwide elections, former President Jimmy Carter's foundation said on Tuesday.

These and other hindrances could diminish the ability of the center - the only international group Sudan invited to monitor the process - to verify the vote's fairness, the group said.

Sudan is holding its first parliamentary and presidential elections in all regions of the war-torn country next April. The elections are a key part of the 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war. Two million people died in the war, which devastated the country's oil-rich south.

Authorities have asked the Atlanta-based center to monitor the balloting, for which voter registration started Sunday.

"These elections are supposed to represent a new event in Sudan's history," said Aly Verjee, a Carter Center spokesman. "Observation is important ... to build confidence in the process both nationally and internationally."

Verjee said the Sudan's National Election Commission is overwhelmed by the task of preparing for the elections. The Carter Center called on Sudanese authorities to ensure the observers' freedom of movement.

The vote is critical - the 2005 peace deal created a transitional national unity government, but mistrust between Sudan's former north-south rivals runs deep. The elections are also expected to pave the way for the 2011 referendum in which the south will chose whether to become independent from the north, another critical point of the peace deal.

Verjee said Sudan's election commission has yet to grant the 32 monitors from the Carter Center proper permits, adding that security agents turned some of the monitors away from registration sites because they lacked the papers.

The commission has also delayed funds allocated to state-level election committees, impeding their ability to recruit and pay staff, the Carter Center said in a statement released Monday.

Sudanese political parties and voters have said that a lack of public information about the electoral process could confuse voters or leave them out of the process. Some say registration sites are not clearly marked. Others say officials in the north have closed sites early or held meetings inside, in violation of their status as politically neutral locations.

Also, standing north-south disputes have overshadowed election preparations. Southern lawmakers have boycotted the parliament, demanding changes to laws that restrict campaign and political activities.

The Carter Center also called on Sudan to disarm militias and revoke the government-declared "state of emergency" in the western Darfur region, saying these too could hamper the elections there. The Darfur conflict, which has killed more than 300,000 people over the past six years, is separate from Sudan's north-south war.

Sudanese authorities say voting will be possible in Darfur, and Verjee said registration has begun in some areas there. Darfur rebel groups have cast doubts on the possibility of holding elections there without a peace agreement.

Although fighting has subsided in most of Darfur, hostilities remain, and some 2.7 million people live in refugee camps.

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Associated Press Writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report from Cairo.