Promises of political tolerance

The political parties promised to be tolerant towards each other as they took part in the celebrations of the International Day of Democracy 15 September 2009 in Yei River County.

Musicians from Yei, Southern Sudan, singing a song about democracy (photo: Janne Bruvoll).

“A nation like Sudan needs democracy! We need tolerance, we need tolerance, we need tolerance!” The words are blaring from the two meter tall speakers standing in the grass outside Yei Community Resource Centre. The song has been written on the occasion of the International Day of Democracy and is sung by a group of musicians from Yei. Among the audience is the commissioner of Yei River County and representatives from Sudanese political parties and civil society organisations. They are all here to attend the International Day of Democracy celebrations organised by a group of organisations supported by MS Sudan.

“UN’s International Day of Democracy is still not widely known but it is important for Southern Sudan to be among the countries celebrating this special day. We are on the road to democracy and it is your responsibility – and my responsibility – to build this young democracy,” said Eric J. Moses, manager of Yei Community Resource Centre, in his welcoming speech.

Political tolerance in Yei
The theme for this year’s democracy day was political tolerance which is highly relevant for Sudan as the country approaches the first national democratic elections in more than 20 years. The political parties in Yei River County show great tolerance towards each other according to the party representatives from the ruling party in the Sudanese government, NCP, and the ruling party in the semi-autonomous Southern Sudan, SPLM.

“We can have different ways to perceive something but we must be tolerant towards each other. I have not experienced any problems working for NCP here in Yei River County despite the fact that this is a stronghold for SPLM,” said Yakani Hillary from NCP in his speech.

Samuel Bidali, deputy secretary for SPLM in Yei River County, used his speech to remind people that this was what they were fighting for in the 21 year long civil war with the north.

“We were the ones that pushed the agenda of multiple political parties. It has never been here in Sudan before,” he said.

Great need of information about democracy
This is the second year, the UN is celebrating the International Day of Democracy on 15 September but it is the first time for the day to be celebrated in Southern Sudan. In Yei, the day was organised by civil society organisations and the day was also celebrated in Morobo County.

“I am very happy about today. Especially, I was glad to see a kind of tolerance among the political parties. This was not the case before. Next year, we are going to have an open invitation for everyone because people still need a lot of information about democracy,” says Eric J. Moses, manager of Yei Community Resource Centre.

The commissioner of Yei River County David Lokonga Moses agrees that many Southern Sudanese need to learn about democracy.

“The people of Southern Sudan have always practiced democracy on the local level, but they just do not know that it is. And by then, there was no participation of women and youth so we still need a massive campaign to aware people about this,” he says.

The speaker of the council and the commissioner of Yei River County are listening to speeches at the International Day of Democracy (photo: Janne Bruvoll).