|
A conference on
UNITY AND SEPARATION OF
SUDAN
"Sudanese women vision of
the referendum scenarios"
In
2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed between the ruling
National Congress Party (NCP) and the south-based Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM). The CPA was a watershed in the country’s modern
history. Not only did it end Africa’s longest running civil war, but it also
paved the way for constitutional reform and a gradual return to multi-party
democracy, radically altering power and wealth distribution between North
and South in the process. Amongst other things, the CPA reaffirmed the
principle of equality between men and women, and paved the road for
constitutional and legal reform to address the historical patterns of
exclusion that have prevented women from assuming their place in the
country’s political decision-making structures. Most significantly, in 2005,
and due in large part to pressure from women’s rights groups, a 25% quota
for women had become law in southern Sudan, affecting all legislative and
executive branches from the Government of South Sudan (Goss) down to the
local government level. In 2008, the North followed, with a more limited
arrangement that guaranteed a minimum of 25% of all seats in the National
Assembly and state legislative assemblies. The quota would face its first
test with the April 2010 country-wide legislative, presidential and
gubernatorial elections. According to the CPA, a referendum shall be held in
the beginning of 2011 and it is believed this referendum will determine the
shape of the Sudan by the end of the interim period; either as a united
country or two new countries. |
