AFRICA/SUDAN - Sudanese elections extended two days

Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) – The Electoral Commission of Sudan has decided to extend the presidential, parliamentary, and local elections another two days (the polls were to be closed today, April 13; see Fides 12/4/2010) until April 15 .
Yesterday, April 12, there had been lines formed at polling stations starting in the early hours of the morning in Khartoum, where the police were patrolling the streets and major crossroads. The government has deployed 100,000 agents in the North, to prevent the violence.
After the announcement of the extension of the vote, the number of voters who go to the polls has drastically decreased and the situation appears calm in most of the country. Several international observers and opposition parties have denounced irregularities in the voting, however.
In Darfur, the western region of Sudan, since 2003 engaged in a civil war, four "Blue Helmets" of the UN-African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) have been reported missing. According to a UN mission commander, the four soldiers - two men and two women - probably of South African nationality, disappeared Sunday, April 11. The Sudanese leaders, nevertheless, consider the disappearance of the "Blue Helmets" as having no link to the elections. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 13/4/2010)