In April 2009, Justice Africa commenced activities for the Civil Project. Contact with our network of CSOs regarding the civil project was established. The Program monitoring committee and Program Advisory committees were set up. A number of meetings were held from April –June to provide information to CSOs on the content of the civil project, to allow them to assess to what extent they would like to be involved. One major group meeting took place on 22 June, for 25 CSOs at the Justice Africa Khartoum offices. A number of journalists from 5 national papers, Omdurman Radio and Television also attended and they were briefed on how the media could contribute to the project.

On 26 June 2009, the first meeting of the Programme Advisory Group was held for the Civil Project. The advisory group members included a number of journalists (including Murtada Al Gali- the editor in Chief of Ajraza Al Horiya of a national news paper distributed in most of the states in Sudan), university lecturers, lawyers and Civil Society Activists. The meeting set out a broad agenda for Sudanese CSOs to address important issues concerning Sudanese people.

Debate on Abyei Border Decision

During 2009, Justice Africa staff organised the first public debate on the Abyei border decision issue. The debate took place on 29 July 2009 and addressed the outcome of the Permanent court of Arbitration decision regarding the demarcation of the borders of Abyei on 22 July 2009. The meeting was attended by a number of Sudanese activists and politicians from the major Sudanese political parties and activists of the Abyei area. A number of journalists attended this debate and it was covered by more than 5 national newspapers, with full pages reports in two newspapers.

The theme of the debate was ‘Abyei: Beyond the Court Decision’. In rejection of the court’s decision on the demarcation of the borders, the Misseriya from Abyei planned to obstruct the team delegated to demarcate the new borders of Abyei. As a result of these discussions, Justice Africa formed the Abyei Advisory Group to provide a platform in which the opposing sides could engage in dialogue and find a way out of the current deadlock. The advisory group planned to send a delegation of Misseriya activists from Khartoum to convince the local Misseriya to engage in dialogue over this issue. A prominent Misseriya activist named Dr Abdul Basit Saeed presented a paper on alternative ways for Misseriya to co-exist peacefully with other tribes in Abyei.

Results and Impact

This event was attended by delegates from 12 major political parties from the North and the South, as well as 80 activists. The debate was a success in that it brought a number of different political parties together and encouraged them to discuss controversial yet crucial matters in Sudan’s near future. How to make unity attractive and the role political parties have in this was discussed alongside what steps civil society can take to make unity attractive to southerners. The debate was covered by 5 broadsheets in Sudan in order that such discussion would be opened up to a wide audience.

Workshop on Sudan’s Economic Policies

On 17 October 2009, Justice Africa Sudan organised a one-day workshop for Sudanese Political Parties, titled ‘The Challenges of Sudanese Political Parties Economic Programme Workshop’. Its aim was to discuss the Sudanese economy and proposed policies within their campaigns. Four panellists and Justice Africa were present at the workshop, which was chaired by former dean of politics and economics at Khartoum University. The state minister from the ministry to National Economics, in collaboration with IDEA provided a general outline of an economic plan. Research papers were printed and handed out for all political parties to refer to.

Twenty-six political parties participated in this workshop and the following issues were discussed:

- The Issues of Post war Development: Dr Lowal Ding – State Minister of Finance Government of National Unity (SPLM)

- Sudan Economy and the Challenges of Transformation to Democracy – By Dr Sidgic Umbada.

- The Budget and the challenges of Poverty Eradication and Social Justice – By Hafiz Mohamed.

- The Mechanisms for Drawing Economic Programme for political Parties – By Dr Ata Bathani.

During this workshop, a framework for formulating economic policy within political party programmes was explained and developed by the panellists with the participants. The issue of how to fund economic programmes was also discussed. The importance of identifying sources of funding for any economic expenditure policies to tackle poverty was emphasised and a discussion of how to fund economic programmes took place, identifying sources of possible funds.

Results and Impact

As a result of this workshop, political parties acknowledged the importance of addressing the economy in their political programmes and some of the attending political parties asked Justice Africa to form a panel of Sudanese economists to scrutinise each political party’s economic programme. It was agreed that the political parties would use the framework discussed in this meeting and present outlines of their economic programmes to Justice Africa to scrutinize before the next meeting.

The debates also received a great deal of coverage in the Sudanese media with news of the workshop on the front page of five national newspapers along with full reports in their main sections.

A second meeting with political parties took place in March in order to provide feedback. The six main political parties submitted their economic programmes to be analysed. In general, the frameworks for expenditure were comprehensive, but each programme outline was weak in terms of identifying the sources of income for expenditure planning.

Following this second meeting, two political parties met with Justice Africa again to seek more support in developing their economic programmes. Other meetings were initially planned, but these were later cancelled due to the fact that several political parties boycotted the election.

Justice Africa is seeking funds to continue engaging with political parties and offering support over the next few years to help prepare them for the next election.

Symposium on Practical Solutions to Urgent Political Issues

On 22 October 2009, Justice Africa organised a symposium in Khartoum titled The Challenges of The Political Programmes for Sudanese Political parties. The main objective of this exercise was to highlight urgent political issues and ask the political parties to contribute practical solutions. All political parties were invited to attend, as well as journalists and civil society activists in order to provide an opportunity for them to put their questions to the political parties and to scrutinise their economic programmes. As well as economic challenges, other issues were addressed including the relationship between religion and the state, devolution, the question of corruption in government and accountability of Government spending. 36 political parties attended this workshop, along with 80 activists.

Results and Impact

By holding the above debates, we aim to provide opportunities for civil society, government officials and political parties, to enter into dialogue about the key issues facing Sudan. Our work with political parties also provides an opportunity for engagement on key issues facing the population of Sudan and helps political party representatives refine their views and positions within their political mandates. Both these outcomes contribute to the wider aim within the Civil Project of strengthening peace and democratic processes in Sudan.