Dear Foreign Minister,
We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the situation in Sudan, which remains violent and volatile and is in real danger of escalating further. We strongly urge you to use the 6-7 October Moscow meeting to identify concrete joint steps to stem the ongoing instability across Sudan including Darfur, Southern Sudan, and the transitional areas, to end human rights abuses and prevent the recurrence of armed conflict.
Time is running out in Sudan. Without urgent action, the window of opportunity to promote sustainable peace will soon close, at huge cost to the long-suffering people of Sudan and to the region. The Moscow meeting comes six months before the (re)scheduled elections in Sudan. We recognize that the elections are an important milestone in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and a test of the willingness and ability of the two parties, the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), to honour the terms of the CPA in the run up to the 2011 referendum on Southern self-determination.
However, there is inadequate coordination and preparation for ensuring that civilians are protected from potential violence through the upcoming national elections to the referendum and beyond. The continuing conflict in Darfur and violations of Darfuris' human rights remain a huge concern, as does the escalating violence in the South, which often has ethnic dimensions that become very quickly politicized. The elections may trigger further conflict if key CPA provisions on the census, voter registration, border demarcation, oil revenues, referendum law, and freedoms of speech and assembly are not met. Illegitimate or violent elections will almost certainly destabilize Sudan further and compound the risk of wide-spread conflict in the country, possibly derailing preparations for the 2011 referendum.
We were encouraged by recent efforts to coordinate international responses to Sudan more effectively, in particular around the Permanent Court of Arbitration's 22 July ruling on Abyei. We recommend that you promote a similar cooperative approach in a clear, focused and shared roadmap, and urge you to:
- Press the Sudanese and Southern Sudanese governments, the two United Nations missions in Sudan, and donor countries to take urgent and immediate action to protect civilians before, during and after the elections;
- Press donor countries to field international elections observers immediately, ahead of the November voter registration;
- Press the GNU to charge or release people who have been arbitrarily arrested and detained; to end pre-print censorship and harassment and abuse of individuals who speak out on issues of public concern including elections; and to reform the National Security Forces Act in line with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement;
- Press both parties to the CPA to implement North-South border demarcation.
Now is the time to act quickly and decisively, using the 6-7 October Moscow meeting to create momentum towards a joint strategy to achieve our common objectives of protecting civilians across Sudan, and promoting peace and stability in the country and the Horn of Africa region.
Sincerely,
Anne-Cécile Antoni
President
Action by Christians Against Torture (ACAT) France
Ruth Messinger
President
American Jewish World Service
Dr Jacky Mamou
President
Collectif Urgence Darfour
Jonas Karpantschof
Chairperson
European Union of Jewish Students
Georgette Gagnon
Africa Director
Human Rights Watch
Joel Charny
Acting President
Refugees International
Tilman Zülch
Secretary General
Society for Threatened Peoples - Germany
Bill Andress
Moderator
Sudan Advocacy Action Forum
Dr James Smith
CEO
Aegis Trust
Aidan McQuade
Director
Anti-Slavery International
Dismas Nkunda
Co-Chair, Darfur Consortium
Co-Director, International Refugee Rights Initiative
Sam Bell
Executive Director
Genocide Intervention Network
Antonella Napoli
President
Italians for Darfur
Djibril Balde
Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de l'Homme (RADDHO)
Christoph Wiedmer
Director
Society for Threatened Peoples - Switzerland
Louise Roland-Gosselin
Director
Waging Peace
Osman Hummaida
Executive Director
African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies
Haggag Nayal
Secretary General
Arab Coalition for Darfur
John Norris
Executive Director
Enough
Elisa Massimino
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director
Human Rights First
Eric Cohen
Chairperson
Investors Against Genocide
Jerry Fowler
President
Save Darfur Coalition
Gabriel Stauring
Director
Stop Genocide Now
