Frost over the World in Sudan

Updated: on may-5-2010

     an interesting debate and a good comparison between Congo election and the Sudanese election by Jendayi Frazer. Thank you Sir David Frost and i hope you make more of these debate on Aljazeera. I wish Jendayi Frazer had to chance to talk more about the Congo election’s. while watching the clip i just hoped that Sir David would give her more time to talk more about the election interim of African being able to execute a legitimate election when the tools and mechanism are supported and used. The excuse that this election was done in a country that had not had an election for 24 years is not strong, Congo election is an example, she point out that in this clip too. The excuse that Sudanese people don't know about democracy or democratic change by the Sudanese debater is not strong either. lets just be clear before this government and the one before it that rule for 16 year under a dictatorship rule of numari with his inhumane communist ideas, Sudan was implementing democratic policies at a good speed. Sudan had election in the past, and that election to a large extent was a free and fair election although they wore not covering the all of Sudan which by the way this one also doesn't they served as a mechanism to educate the Sudanese people about the right to vote, the right to voice their opinion and the right to choice their leader, they also helped steer Sudan into democratic change and that intern helped the economy in what we Sudanese people know as the democratic times or party ruling time. which wore unfortunately not for a long. Well I let you watch the clip and tell me what you think.

 

please feel free to comment on your thoughts and opinions.

Folks it is official, YouTube blocked in Sudan Again.

well it is official, the news has been circulating around the net for a while. it is official. what would you expect from the NTC after the fallowing clip has been shown in YouTube?, this is not the first time they blocked YouTube, they blocked it before in 2008. it is normal in state such as Iran, China, Sudan to control there media heavily and that is what we would always expect from such states. when Iran had its long demonstration revolt last year due to it’s election, it was interesting to see how twitter played a major roll as a communication tool between Iranian people themselves and the outside world. but then Iran blocked the website and stop any one from accessing it in Iran. an interesting cartoon that has been circulated on the net is shown below, it is about the usage of twitter in the post Iranian election demonstration and how technology is now empowering people to speak up.

He’s twittering, (who is reading, The world is reading)

the question i would like to ask is Sudan a step ahead of Iran and want to block all these social media sites before announcing the winner of this election?, that could be possible. but that wouldn't stop this clip or even other clip from spreading on the net, these government should know that blocking these social media sites would not stop people from viewing clip on the net or stop them from voicing the thought about it. the video could be circulated even now throughout the net by email or even in Sudan by Bluetooth enabled devices and much, much more. the fact is technology is changing the way we communicate with each other and on the other hand it is empowering people everywhere to speak up against injustice acts around the world and to voice there opinion loud and clear for the world to hear (read).

the news article stated that this action by the NTC is due to the leaking of a clips showing stuffing of electoral ballots, in what the opposition party say a clear evident of how the current election has been rigged. the clip shows electoral ballots being stuffed with ballots forums in what seems to be a polling site located in the red sea state of eastern Sudan.

here are the sources.

Sudan reportedly blocks YouTube over electoral fraud video

Sudan opposition claims video shows election fraud

Sudan: Empowering the Middle Class

     Image Source: Washington Post

     while surfing the net, a Friend of mine from GV send me this article posts titled The Ugly Election, it was interesting reading it and for sure it was well informative for me and my studies on the current election in the Sudan.  i like the part where the blogger states

Our voters fall into two main categories. Category A is those who have, of necessity or opportunism, joined the loyalty parade. This includes almost all rural voters whose services and livelihoods require government beneficence. It includes anyone who may need a license to trade. These voters will vote NCP, and the uglier the candidate, the more likely they will vote him in, because the ugliest representative is likely to be the one seated closest to the president and his minions.
Category B is those who have neither material interest nor personal proclivity for this kind of politics. Most of them did not register and most of those who registered did not vote. Observing the trickle of voters at the polling stations last week I would guess that the male population under the age of thirty belongs in its near entirety to category B.

Abd Alwahab (bloggers name)  point out an important factor in this election, that is who control the income of more then half of the Sudanese population that live on rural areas, who sometimes pumps water to them so that they can farm, who has a sole monopoly over  seeds distribution so they can be able to farm the next season, who has the money to buys there product so that they can live another day, who at the end tax them when they finish farming so that they are allowed to farm the next season and finally who can stop all of these necessary commodities needed by them and has the power to do it. it is very interesting and sad how these basic needs link a person opinion to his country future and his family as a whole. that Maslow's hierarchy of needs for you right there!!!.

this Reminds me of Thomas Jefferson quotes when he said

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

-Thomas Jefferson-

 

feel free to comment.

Power to People + Information Revolution = better future for all ?

     can more information and people to access it change the way we live our lives today, if government are held accountable for every penny they spend, and where they spend it, would that lead to a better for all. i guess so. so far i can see many government through the middle east that if they wore to be questioned to where the budget spending is spend at, they would have trouble answering.so far the internet is giving power to citizen journalist around the world to voice there opinion on many topics including those topic that are viewed controversial or tabooed in there own country.  David Cameron point out that behavioral economics can help us recycle martial and save electricity through comparing our consumption of electricity with our neighbors consumption and the overall average consumption. Transparency, Choice, Accountability are three methods he mentions to increase the wellbeing of a country citizen and to empower them to change there environment for the betterment of all citizen.

 

 

     in this ever changing world of IT and interconnect information technology devices we as citizen are becoming expose to information that none of our grandparent or even parent did. we are empower with tools that enable us to voice our opinions on the net for the whole world to hear, we are empower to voice our opinion and to debate them in a way that has never been given to any of our pervious generation. the question is can we act on these information and point out the wrongdoer or do we keep silent and live another day with the torment of not being the whistle blower who we could have been. at the end it is those who speak out that are remembers not those who keep silent in the midst of oppression, ternary and coercion. feel free to comment and tell me what you think

Gran Torino: i just finished watching the movie. just inspirational.

  The movie is very inspirational. it has many perspective interim of culture exchange and how people view each other culture. interesting movie that has an interesting twist to it and the end. hope you get the chance to watch it.

Rattansi & Ridley interviews Hassan al-Turabi and Ibrahim Ghandour

an interview between Rattansi & Ridley and Hassan al-Turabi and Ibrahim Ghandour  on there perspective on the election. just an updated about the current opinion of the opposition parties and the national congress party on the election.

feel free to comment.

My First Post in Global voices online, a start for many to come

yesterday i was able to post my first post in Global voices online website, it is by far the best site to read from about deferent people opinion and perspective and i am very honored to be part of the citizen journalism revolution that GV is leading. here is the link to the post “First GV post my Mahid (Sudanese Guardian)” i would like to thanks all the Sudanese blogger for blogging about the election and letting us read there thought and comments. thank you a lot.  thank you blackkush and Sudanese thinkers for your post and for shearing it on the net.

Sudan: Polling period extended for two days

after much confusion and disarray in the polling process, the NEC has decided to extend the election period for 2 days, i am sure that would not help fix the problems that the election is facing but it might help those waiting in line to vote and give them more time to do so. for sure this would not help mitigate any of the opposition party compliant and problems.

  in the clip in 2:05 Mr. Hafz point out an important issue and that is when those opposition party that withdraw from the election have with draw themselves they didn't tell there support what they should do from now on, they just keep silent, which makes it really frustrating to see, they the opposition parties should at least arrange a peaceful demonstration calling on and demanding change and asking for a more fair and free election and the postponing of the election time. even if the election was to start tomorrow, they should have done something at least. 2 day tell the end of this so called election, lets wait and see what the result could be..

feel free to comment on you thought or give some suggestion.

Sudan election: the First day of election in 24 years.

The Sudanese election has started yesterday the 11 of April, after 24 years of totalitarianism government ruling. the Sudanese youth are for there first time in 24 years experiencing an election, lets just not forget that it is not a fully free and fair election. but with all of this comes lots of complexities, poll ballot not arriving on time, poll areas not opening on time and much, much confusion and disarray in the air, lets not forget the illiteracy rate that is in Sudan 40% of the population and poll ballots being confuse as they are , i have even heard it took an educated average adult 20 minute to understand the process. with all of this  an important issue immerges, less then half of the population have registered to vote for this election the other half might be located in war torn areas such as darfur or areas out of reach of the ballots polls. these 16 million register voter they must vote for atleast 8 vote ballots.

“Sudanese voters each have to cast at least eight votes on different ballots. The Southern voters each have 12 votes to fill in on separate ballot papers. So the 12 million Northern voters will potentially fill in 104 million ballots. The 4 million Southerners will have to tick another 50 million votes on separate forms to be put in separate ballot boxes. Potentially, there could be up to 150 million votes to count. It will be the first elections for Southern Sudan since 1953. Altogether there are 17,000 candidates running for office. None of them are permitted to contest for two positions simultaneously.”

source: http://radiodabanga.org/?p=12143

with all of these problems facing this election the NEC is pushing to make this election as legitimate as possible or that what they say they want.!!!

there has also been problems facing people, such as taking long time to understand the process or even understand the process in the specified time of 3 min for every voter.

with the second day starting, we will see more of news emerging about the process of election in Sudan, i hope that they continue concentrating on the legitimacy of this election tell the end of the election period. feel free to comment  or tell me what you think of the process and how it is going.

Anniversary of March/April 1985 Uprising: Jafar Numari Rule overthrown by a public uprising in The Sudan

there was an uprising opposing to the regime of the late Dictator Jafar Nimire who was overthrown by a public uprising in the 1985 which is called the March/April public uprising. After this public uprising in the Sudan which is the second uprising against military rule, In that moment a the starting of the peace agreement has started and has accomplish a basic understanding of the peace agreement between the south and the north in Ethiopia between the Democratic Unionist Party (which by the way the party that founded and brought the independent of Sudan) under the leadership of Al-Sayyid Muhammad Othman Al-Mirghani and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement of the South under the leadership of late Dr john Garang. Shortly afterward there was another coup d'état by this current regime. As Sudan is facing election in April, i think it is As if history is talking to us in these days telling us don't forget what they have fought for, don't forget a free Sudan under a democratic system, don't forget your past and get stronger through it in this election.

Riz Khan Ignoring Sudan- interviewing General Scott Gration

an interesting interview with Scott Gration Special Envoy to Sudan  and michael gaouette head of sudan team at UN HQ .  the interview take on a interesting curve especial in  3:45 to 6:05 and in 7:30 to 8:30 so for sure justice is guaranteed to be served it just matter of time and democratic changes :)

 

 

feel free to comment and tell me what you think.

Modern Sudan through the eyes of the economist

a well-rounded clip that explains Sudan in may aspects

enjoy

feel free to comment

Sudan election in its road for a inevitable disaster with the withdraw of opposition parities candidates.

well he is finally out, as if i had known he would be out. to be honest there has been rumor here and there and everywhere in Sudan about this candidate withdrawing from the election in a secret deal with the current ruling party the NCP. But after all is this true?. some might say it is, because when he withdraw from the his position as an election candidate he clears the field for the current NCP party to compete with the rest of the opposition parties which haven’t withdraw from the election but they said that they would boycott it (I guess that the same as withdraw) but not all do take this action for granted. Maybe by the end of next week we will see them all withdrawing from this election. Leaving the whole election field for the NCP. So I am guessing here are the scenarios, if all parities withdraw from this election then this might lead or would lead to having an illegitimate election in the Sudan which in turn leads to postponing the election to another time. Also we might think that this is a way for the SPLM to pressure the NCP demanding a more fair and free election, O well let’s see what the news says about all of this.

"On the level of the candidates of the Presidency of the Republic, most of them (Sudan's opposition groups) decided to withdraw," said Mohamed Zaki, head of office for Sadeq al-Mahdi, leader of the opposition Umma party.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6302UM20100401

“Veteran Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi confirmed that candidates from his Popular Congress Party would contest the poll, to be held 11-13 April.”

“But the Umma party of former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi, the Democratic Unionist Party and the Communist party have all said they will no longer participate.”

“The opposition parties and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - which serves in a coalition at national level with President Omar al-Bashir - all believe the electoral process has been rigged in favour of his National Congress Party.”

“They say the registration process has been flawed, and their access to state media and rights to hold rallies restricted.”

“SPLM presidential candidate Yassir Arman announced on Wednesday that he was pulling out of the election.”

“He also cited a lack of preparedness for the election in the Darfur region, where a rebellion has been taking place since 2003.”

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8599567.stm

it is wonderful and i am thankful for all the news agency for laying out all and everyone opinion out to read, well i guess we will see more of then in the fallowing days.

NCP tries to blackmail the SPLM in public by election = referendum formula

The NCP has declare that if SPLM withdraw itself from this election or try to call for a postponing of the election that it would not agree on the 2011 CPA referendum for South Sudan. I guess this remained me of the elementary school scenario which goes like this, if you don’t let me play with your toy I would not let you play with my toy and for sure the way this election is going it is clear that it is one person toy only, one party, i will let you guess that. on the other hand this blackmailing is sure to make the SPLM outraged because the referendum is an agreement under the CPA done between the NCP and the SPLM with the mentoring of the UN. Wavering it out like that makes it a simple agreement in the eyes of the NCP to breach the agreement and jeopardizing the agreement to even returning to square number one.

here are some statement stated by the NCP current ruling party.

"If the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) refuses to hold elections then we will refuse to hold the referendum," he said during a campaign speech in Khartoum.

"We will not accept a delay to the elections not even for one day,"

"There was no agreement on the agenda to be raised to the presidency," Abdallah Masar, an advisor to Bashir, told Reuters late on Monday.
"There are differences over the elections -- the NCP says the elections must happen on time," he added.

source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKLDE62S28Y._CH_.2420

feel free to post any comment or question.