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Vol 51 No 8

Published 16th April 2010


Sudan

An election victory that widens the North-South gap

Western governments accept the regime’s rigged victory in exchange for what they hope will be a Southern referendum

Long before voting started on 11 April, it was clear that the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Khartoum would maintain its iron grip on power and that interested governments would accept this, despite the widespread evidence of fraud produced by Sudanese and foreign observers alike (AC Vol 51 No 7). The opposition decision to boycott spoiled the plan. For Khartoum, internationally accepted elections would counter the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir. For Western governments, the elections were an essential building block in an orchestrated peace process which would culminate in next year’s referendum on independence for Southern Sudan.

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