Addis Ababa, 7 April 2016: The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, authorized the deployment of an African Union (AU) short-term technical election observation mission to the Darfur Administrative referendum in the Republic of the Sudan, which is scheduled to take place from 11 to 13 April 2016.
The deployment of the AU election observation mission to the referendum in Darfur follows a consultative meeting between the Sudanese delegation led by the Chairman of the Darfur Regional Authority, Dr. Tijani Sisei held with the AUC Chairperson on Wednesday 9 March 2016, and the recommendations of the AU Pre-referendum Assessment Mission to the country that took place from 30 March to 3 April 2016.
The decision of the Chairperson of the Commission is in line with the relevant AU instruments, notably paragraph VI (d) of OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections and paragraph 4.6 of the AU Guidelines for Elections Observation and Monitoring Missions, as well as in accordance with the special role of the AU as one of the moral guarantors of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD) signed in July 2011 between the Government of the Sudan and the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM).
The Mission comprises a team of ten (10) independent election experts from nine (9) AU member states and staff from the African Union Commission. The Mission will deploy to Sudan from 8 to 18 April 2016.
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission also encourages the hybrid African Union-United Nations Mission to Darfur (UNAMID) to provide, within its mandate and capabilities, the necessary logistical assistance requested by the Government of the Sudan in support of the referendum process.
For more information, please contact: Mr. Idrissa Kamara (kamarai@africa-union.org) or Dr. Job Akuni (akunij@africa-union.org).