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First day of Sudan's Darfur referendum going on smoothly: commission

Xinhua, April 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

The first day of a vote on the future of Sudan's Darfur is going on smoothly, a supervising committee said on Monday, describing the turnout so far as "good."

The voters began casting their ballots at 8:30 a.m. local time (0530 GMT) for either keeping Darfur's five-state system or to unify them in one region.

"The voting process is progressing in a good manner and there are no barriers facing the work in the referendum," head of the Darfur Referendum Commission said.

There is a good turnout, he told reporters in Nyala, capital of South Darfur State.

A total of 3,532,226 registered voters will have three days to cast their ballots at 1,420 polling stations in 65 localities.

The referendum is held in accordance with Doha Document for Peace in Darfur (DDPD), signed between Sudan's government and the Libration and Justice Movement (LJM) in 2011.

Under the deal, if Darfurians vote for one state, then the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority (TDRA) will form a constitutional committee to determine the authority of Darfur's regional governments.

However, if they vote for the current five states, then, the current status will remain, and the TDRA will be dissolved.

The vote started in the presence of international monitors and national and international organizations, Yousif Al-Habeeb Adam, member of the higher committee for Darfur referendum and organizations and monitoring coordinator in East Darfur State, told reporters.

There are no barriers so far, and the turnout can be described as good, he noted.

Also, West Darfur State Governor Khalil Abdalla Mohamed said the turnout is intensive in all the state's localities according to the reports received.

He expected that around 50 percent out of the registered voters in his state would cast their ballots on the first day.

Similarly, in North Darfur State, polling stations have reported high turnout on the first day of the referendum, according to its governor.

"In North Darfur, we have around 500 polling centers distributed to the state's capital El Fasher and the rest of the localities. According to what we have seen in El Fasher and the reports we receive from the other centers, the voters' turnout is intensive," Governor Abdul-Wahid Yousif, told reporters after casting his vote at a polling station.

He said the boycott by some Darfur armed groups and representatives of displaced persons has not affected the process.

"The process is progressing as planned," Yousif said. "There are positive atmospheres and the security situation is completely stable."

Major rebel movements in Darfur reject participating in the referendum, demanding that the central government fulfill their demands of reaching a political solution with the armed groups and financially compensating citizens affected by the conflict.

The Sudanese government, however, stressed that the referendum must go ahead according to the peace deal. Endit