Khartoum, April 09: In a dusty slum outside Khartoum, southern refugees displaced by Sudan’s erstwhile civil war remain detached from the complexities of Sunday’s elections, pleading instead for better health, education and work.
Torn tents and dried up mud huts dot the impoverished enclave of Soba, where displaced refugees who settled years ago hope for better lives, whatever the outcome of the country’s first multi-party elections in more than two decades.
Even significant political developments such as the recent election boycott by former southern rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement hardly makes news.
“I don’t know what the SPLM decided,” admitted Jackson Joseph, 28, a student of architecture whose family comes from the country’s extreme south Equatorial State.
“I suppose the decision is positive but I don’t really understand what’s going on. I just want the CPA to continue,” said James, a 30-year-old from a village near Malakal in the southern Upper Nile state.
He was referring to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2005 to end a brutal decades-long civil war between north and south Sudan that left around two million dead and displaced some four million others.
Residents, who have no access to electricity or running water, say they cannot judge the potential impact of the decision by the SPLM, whose candidate Yasser Arman was considered the main challenger to President Omar al-Beshir.
“If Arman doesn’t participate, then I’ll vote for Lam Akol,” said Jackson, confusing the presidential election with the vote for the leader of the semi-autonomous government of south Sudan taking place at the same time, in which former foreign minister Akol is running.
The complex presidential, legislative and local polls are expected to be a challenge for Sudan, where many people have never voted before and large numbers are illiterate.
Southern Sudanese living in the north cannot vote in the southern “presidential” election, where Akol is running against the country’s vice president Salva Kiir.
“I registered and will vote for Kiir because he is our representative,” said James, highlighting the confusion among the people over one of the world’s most complicated electoral processes, where two presidential races will take place simultaneously.
Aboud, 22, came to Khartoum when he was a young child because “the situation in Malakal was too difficult,” he said.
Deciphering the balloting comes a distant second for the residents of Soba, who say they have more immediate concerns they want addressed.
“Give us health services. If someone gives us education, health services and work, I’ll vote for him,” said James. Behind him, donkeys carrying jerry cans of water file into the impoverished enclave.
Others dream of returning back to “their country.”
“When I finish my studies I want to be a doctor, but definitely not in Khartoum,” said William Galz, 21, who was only a newborn when he came with his parents, fleeing the conflict.
For him, the 2011 referendum is “far more important” than the election.
“If the SPLM doesn’t participate in the elections here, I want to go back to the country,” said Rebecca whose nine children have already left for Malakal.
“I have to stay for financial reasons,” added the 31-year-old.
Michael, 25, on a visit to Khartoum to visit his brothers, also spoke of “many tribal problems in Malakal.
On Sunday, Michael will head home. Unlike other residents of Soba, he will be there and be able to vote for the leader of southern Sudan.
“It will be a great honour,” he said.
—Agencies