VZCZCXRO9796
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0717 1291120
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091120Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7121
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000717 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREF ECON EAID KDEM SU
SUBJECT: UNDP Conference for Sudanese Women in Politics in Juba 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  The first annual National Conference on Sudanese 
Women in Politics, held May 7 - 11, was convened at Juba University 
under the sponsorship of the Government of Southern Sudan's (GOSS) 
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MPA) and the United Nations 
Development Program (UNDP).  GOSS President Salva Kiir and others 
gathered to give opening remarks of support for the role of women in 
the reconstruction and development of Sudan and called for increased 
programming designed to address the marginalization of women, 
particularly in the South. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) The conference was the first of its kind held in Southern 
Sudan since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) 
and brought together over 600 diverse women from the north and 
south, Muslim and Christian, urban and rural, to address the lack of 
political participation by women in Sudan.  First Lady of the 
Government of National Unity Fatima Bahir, and First Lady of the 
GOSS Mary Auen, wife of Salva Kiir, who seldom makes any public 
appearances, both addressed the participants.  Themes in the 
conference's opening remarks included education for women and girls, 
female leadership in business and politics, the role of women as 
peacemakers, and addressing the female representation gap in the 
GOSS.  In addition to Kiir and the two first ladies, remarks were 
made by the Dutch Minister of International Cooperation, Minister of 
Transport and Roads Rebecca Garang, Presidential Advisor on Gender 
and Human Rights Awut Deng, and Minister of Gender, Social Welfare 
and Religious Affairs Mary Kiden.  The First Lady of South Africa 
was to have participated but sent her Gender Minister in her absence 
who spoke on the commonality of the struggle in South Africa and 
offered to share lessons learned.   Throughout the four day 
conferenc%, NGOs and civic lua$ers$will(hold sEmi~crs#/n em0owev}nTQQQad"afgit-itiz(acxiOl8vQe#So|ruhf qjP%Ic B_v%mmejt +cPQ0QQF[QjQuoe 
number of and positions held by women currently serving in the GNU 
and the GOSS, including three Sudan People's Liberation Movement 
(SPLM) representatives in the GNU, four female GOSS advisors to the 
President, three female GOSS commissioners, and 40 female GOSS 
parliamentarians.  Kiir emphasized a point he had made earlier in 
the week to the GOSS Governors' Forum (septel)  that women had to be 
accommodated in the GOSS at all levels and that he was putting men 
who were "sitting on women's seats" in government on notice that 
"their days were numbered."  Kiir also lauded the impact of Southern 
Sudanese affirmative action on the rest of the nation, noting that 
the South appointed the first woman Under Secretary (Parliamentary 
Affairs) and  was followed by the North.  He also cited the lead of 
the South in appointing the first woman Parliamentary Speaker in 
Equatoria State. 
 
¶4. (U) Much of the oratory at the conference addressed the need for 
serious dialogue on how to tackle societal and cultural factors 
weighing against the education and advancement of women.   The 
Gender Minister urged women to become involved in the discussions on 
the electoral law to ensure their adequate representation in all 
government institutions. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment: The kick off of this Women's Empowerment 
Conference was a mass celebration with dancing, singing, and fiery 
speeches designed to galvanize the women as they begin the serious 
deliberations on the need to quickly address ways to reach the 
"marginalized of the marginalized" as Kiir stated.  The topics they 
hope to address - women's abject poverty and unemployment, the 
excessive childbirth mortality rates, illiteracy, and political 
exclusion of the over 60 percent of the population of Sudan who are 
female, with most of it in the South, are critical to the success of 
the CPA.  The Conference also foreshadows the kind of alliances, or 
at least networking, that may be formed across race, religion and 
region in the run up to the 2009 elections.  But we won't really 
know until after the singing stops.  End comment. 
 
BERNSTEIN