- From Reuters:
U.S. says Sudan's 2010 elections in doubt
* U.S. cites lack of political will to resolve issues* Statement comes after U.S. envoy's visit to Sudan
* Strains raise fears north-south civil war could restart
WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Sudan may be unable to hold credible elections in coming months because the ruling party and opposition cannot agree on ground rules for the polls, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.
At the end of a trip to Sudan by President Barack Obama's special envoy Scott Gration, the State Department said it saw little movement on issues such as voter registration and border delineation between Khartoum and the semi-autonomous South -- endangering plans for national elections in April 2010 and a referendum on southern succession in 2011.
"Without immediate resolution of these disputes, we are concerned about the chances for conducting credible elections and referenda," it said in a statement.
"Unfortunately, the parties have not yet demonstrated the political will necessary to achieve resolution on these difficult and sensitive issues."
Gration's trip to Sudan was his first since Washington announced in October it would keep economic sanctions on Sudan but would also offer Khartoum new incentives to end violence in Darfur and the South.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), former southern rebels who are now junior partners in the governing coalition under the terms of a 2005 peace deal, have accused the North of stalling on a democratic transformation and undermining plans for free elections.
The SPLM and other parties said on Wednesday they would delay a decision on whether to boycott April's elections in part due to a week-long extension of the voter registration period.
The strains have raised fears the north-south civil war -- fueled by issues including religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology between mostly Christian southern rebels and the Islamist Khartoum government -- could reignite.
Gration visited voter registration centers and urged people to sign up for the polls "as it is the only way for the Sudanese people to maintain their right to participate in the national elections in April 2010," the statement said.
He also visited Darfur, where the United Nations says more than 2 million people were driven from their homes and some 300,000 people died in a crisis that saw non-Arab militias take up arms against the central government. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.
Gration's meetings concentrated on the security situation along the Chad-Sudan border, with the State Department noting lawlessness and banditry were heightening tensions yet again.
- From Reuters Also:
Ten killed in Darfur clashes, rebels say
* Fighting as peace talks begin
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Rebels in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday accused government troops of launching two attacks in a development likely to hinder peace talks which began this month. Rebel commander Suleiman Marjan of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) said government forces attacked civilians in Jabel Eissa and al-Harra in North Darfur on Wednesday.
"They drove out the civilians, beating them, looting and arrested 11 young men," Marjan said.
The SLA had no base in the villages, which was home to about 6,000 people, he said.
In an earlier army attack on Nov. 18 on a nearby SLA base, two rebels and eight government soldiers were killed, he said.
"We repulsed them and they left 20 injured behind and about 50 prisoners who we later released," Marjan said.
Officials from the government army were not available to comment. The joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force (UNAMID) was also unable to confirm the attacks.
The United Nations estimates about 300,000 people have been killed since mostly non-Arab rebels in Darfur took up arms against Khartoum more than six years ago. The government puts the toll at about 10,000.
The International Criminal Court has demanded President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's arrest for war crimes linked to the counter-insurgency campaign .
The peace process mediated by the United Nations and African Union began earlier this month in Qatar with civil society groups taking part. The SLA has refused to attend until security returns to Darfur.
The fighting has driven more than 2 million people from their homes and destabilised the remote region bordering Chad and the Central African Republic, who are both fighting uprisings fuelled by the Darfur unrest.
