Carter Center Deploys Observers In Sudan

18 November 2010 – (Juba) – The Carter Center has deployed thirty observers in Sudan to monitor the voter registration for the forthcoming referendum.

Carter Center’s Ms Maggie Ray in Juba said that there are observer teams in southern Sudan, Abyei and the north.

Speaking to SRS on Wednesday from Juba, Maggie Ray said that the registration exercise has so far been smooth in Juba.

[Maggie Ray]: “For what I have personally seen here in Juba, the registration centers are opened up in time in every place in Juba. They have all the materials they need and people are turning out. What I see is positive as I have said we are getting a lot of information from the team in the field. In the coming days we can make a broader assessment on what might be the challenges and what might be a positive aspect and right now I cannot be able to articulate to you any significant problems we have seen yet.”

Maggie added that there are two observer teams in Central Equatoria state monitoring the exercise.

[Maggie Ray]: “We have two observer teams in Central Equatoria; one team is now in Yei and one team in Juba. Then we have people from our co-staff; there were other two teams that have been going out from my office every day just to go and check what is happening. So we have roughly around 60 people that are doing observation in Juba.”

The current deployment significantly increases the size of the Center’s international observation mission and expands its presence to out-of-country registration locations in eight countries.