El FASHER, Sudan // The Sudanese region of Darfur voted on Monday in a referendum on its future status despite international criticism and a boycott by rebel groups.
Despite ongoing unrest in areas, president Omar Al Bashir – wanted on war crimes charges related to the 13-year conflict – has insisted voting go ahead on whether to unite Darfur’s five states into a single region or maintain the status quo.
A united Darfur with greater autonomy has long been a demand of ethnic minority insurgents battling the Sudanese government since 2003, but they have boycotted the referendum, saying it is unfair.
The United States has also voiced concerns, warning that “if held under current rules and conditions, a referendum on Darfur cannot be considered a credible expression of the will of the people”.
Voting got underway at 9am local time, with a slow early trickle of people coming to cast their ballots at polling stations guarded by armed police and decorated with posters urging a strong showing.
“All polling centres in Darfur’s five states opened and no centre has encountered any difficulties,” said Omar Ali Jomaa, head of the referendum electoral commission.
“It is too early to assess the turnout.”
The state’s governor Abduwahid Yousif voted early at a small school serving as a polling station in an area mostly inhabited by government employees.
In its sunny courtyard, a line of around 100 women in brightly coloured headscarves waited in the early morning to vote inside classrooms temporarily transformed into voting booths.
At another polling station in a camp for the displaced on the edge of the town, resident Fathiya Adam Hassan had just voted.
“I voted for a single region, I want one region to solve Darfur’s problems,” the 38-year-old said outside the booth.
Searching for her name on a list of registered voters outside the health centre where voting was taking place, Samia Haroun said she supported a five-state system, the choice favoured the ruling National Congress Party.
“I want the five states, I want that choice to win,” she said.
At other locations, only a handful of residents came to vote in the first hours of the referendum.
Darfur was a single region until 1994 when the government split it into three states, adding another two in 2012, claiming it would make local government more efficient.
The vast western region has been mired in conflict since 2003 when ethnic minority insurgents rebelled against Mr Al Bashir’s Arab-dominated government over claims they were marginalising them.
Rebels have long demanded a return to the single-region system. But they are boycotting the referendum, saying that current unrest and the high number of people in camps for the displaced mean the vote will not be fair.
Despite Washington’s concerns, Sudan insists the timing is appropriate and that there has been high interest in the vote.
The referendum commission says “3,583,105 out of 4,588,300 entitled to register” have signed up. The figure cannot be verified because of limited press access to Darfur.
In response to the rebellion in 2003, Mr Al Bashir launched a brutal counter insurgency combining the use of ground troops, allied militia and air power, and was indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. He denies all charges.
In addition to the millions of displaced, at least 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict, the UN says, although Khartoum puts the death toll closer to 10,000.
* Agence France-Presse
