Sudanese Refugees Gear Up for Vote on Future State

Kakuma, Kenya - Seven Sudanese refugees sit in a circle in a bright room at a former health clinic filling out mock voter registration cards, practicing inking each others' fingers, interviewing one another and roll-playing how to respond to questions community members may have.

For the first time in their lives, 22,000 refugees are about to vote, and these seven will take them through the process.

This week registration booths opened to start collecting the names of eligible voters for a historic referendum on independence for South Sudan scheduled for January 9. As fingerprinted voter cards were issued, there were reports of jubilant scenes unfolding throughout the South.

But will the South Sudan referendum actually take place on January 9?

This is the question on the minds of activists, journalists and analysts covering Sudan. Sudanese officials pledge to not delay, but with less than two months to go, the outstanding logistical and political challenges are significant.

A team from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) arrived this week to start preparations for the southern referendum – a significant undertaking among a community with no prior experience with formal voting.

An estimated 22,000 Sudanese live in Kakuma Refugee Camp, a refugee camp in northern Kenya that first opened in 1992 to accommodate the tens of thousands of Sudanese refugees fleeing the civil war.

At its height, the UN refugee agency assisted more than 75,000 southern Sudanese refugees in Kenya, the vast majority of whom lived in Kakuma. Among the camp’s residents were Sudan’s Lost Boys, who fled across the border after being orphaned or separated from their families, most famous among them Valentino Achak Deng from the bestselling book “What is the What.”

Countrywide elections in Sudan earlier this year were in many ways – for better or worse – a trial run for the southern referendum. However, the Sudanese in Kakuma didn’t participate.

IOM trainers are in the process of quickly training polling staff on registration procedure, educating the wider community about the coming event and preparing two registration stations to accommodate a stream of would-be voters. The registration period spans two weeks, but referendum officials told Change.org that they expect a big turnout in the first few days.

The IOM training team comes from all over the world, with extensive experience working in challenging election environments.

“This? This is incomparable,” said one of the trainers, when Change.org asked how the South Sudan process compares to ones he assisted with in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Egypt.

While one might expect to hear strong opinions about the referendum from a community of people who have been displaced, sometimes multiple times, by violence in Sudan, the reality is that many camp residents know nothing of the vote on unity and secession.

The IOM team spent two days training seven Sudanese refugees in the voting procedure, after which the seven fanned out across the camp to start raising awareness among crowds gathered for church services. Another 40 or so more people will man the registration booths and, in January, the polling stations.

As posters advertising voter registration went up in Kakuma, the excitement was contagious. IOM had to keep reminding the local staff that they are obligated to remain neutral. This, of course, is difficult, and as word spreads about the upcoming referendum, everyone has a strong opinion about prospects it raises for eventually being able to return home.

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