CONTACTS:
In Khartoum: Jeffrey Mapendere +249 909 010 586 or Aly Verjee +249 126 341 480
In Juba: Sanne van den Bergh +249 911 714 041 or +256 477 182 893
In Atlanta: Deborah Hakes +1 404 420 5124
The Carter Center is pleased to have finalized memoranda of understanding with the Government of National Unity (GONU) of Sudan and the National Elections Commission (NEC) and the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) on its program of election observation in Sudan. The Center welcomes the spirit of cooperation demonstrated by Sudanese authorities in these efforts.
The memoranda of understanding draw from the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, National Elections Act, and the Declaration of Principles of International Election Observation and Code of Conduct adopted at the United Nations in 2005. These memoranda guarantee an unrestricted program of observation, including freedom of access throughout the country and to all stages and actors in the electoral process.
The Center will at all times conduct its activities impartially, objectively, transparently and independently and will inform the NEC of any irregularities, deficiencies, or interference observed, and where appropriate recommend corrective and preventative responses. The Governments of Sudan and Southern Sudan and the NEC have pledged to facilitate the Center's work and provide all possible assistance to the organization and personnel of the Center's election observation mission.
Separate but parallel to its international observation efforts, the Center will also provide technical capacity building and training support to Sudan's domestic election observer groups. This work has been welcomed by the NEC and has also been included under the Center's memoranda of understanding with the GONU and GOSS.
Jeffrey Mapendere, former assistant director of the Carter Center's Conflict Resolution Program, has been appointed as field office director for the Center's Election Observation Mission in Sudan. Mapendere is a recognized expert on democracy and conflict resolution programming. As field office director, he will oversee the mission's efforts to observe the Sudanese electoral process.
Mapendere most recently served as senior advisor on security arrangements in the U.N. standby team of mediation experts, working to advance peace and reconciliation. As a conflict resolution practitioner and a professional mediator, Mapendere has conducted high-level political analysis and worked on projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Jamaica, Kenya, Mozambique, Nepal, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and elsewhere.
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The Carter Center conducts its election observation in accordance with the Declaration of Principles of International Election Observation and Code of Conduct that was adopted at the United Nations in 2005, and has been endorsed by 33 election observation groups. The Declaration of Principles can be read in Arabic and English at: http://cartercenter.org/peace/democracy/des_declaration.html.
The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide. A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, the Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 70 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers to increase crop production. The Carter Center began working in Sudan in 1986 on the Sasakawa-Global 2000 agricultural project and for more than 20 years its health and peace programs have focused on improving health and preventing and resolving conflicts in Sudan. Please visit www.cartercenter.org to learn more about The Carter Center.
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