SUDAN / CENSUS

Sudan's Central Bureau of Statistics releases the census results marking a milestone in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed between the North and the South in 2005. However, the southern partners to the 2005 peace deal have dismissed the results on the grounds that the figures for the south of do not meet the expected one third of the total population. UNMIS

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:44
• Production Date: 21 May 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS ASSISTANCE MISSION IN SUDAN - UNMIS
• Subject Topical: POLITICAL AFFAIRS; LAW; INTERNATIONAL LAW; POLITICAL CONDITIONS; PEACE AND SECURITY
• Geographic Subject: SUDAN
• MAMS Id: U090521d

Description

STORY: SUDAN / CENSUS
TRT: 1:44
SOURCE: UNMIS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS

DATELINE: 19-21 MAY 2009, KHARTOUM AND BENTIU, SUDAN

Shotlist

21 MAY 2009, KHARTOUM, SUDAN

1. Wide shot, journalists inside a hall awaiting census results
2. Med shot, sign reading “5 Sudan Population Housing Census 2008”
3. Med shot, journalists at the press conference
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yasin Al-Haj Abdeen, Director of the Bureau of Statistics:
“The presidency has approved the first census, which is known as the fifth population census.”
5. Med shot, journalists looking at census documents
6. Med shot, document showing census figures
7. Close up, census figures showing Sudan total population
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yasin Al-Haj Abdeen, Director of the Bureau of Statistics:
“The reason why this census is so successful is because there was good coordination between the two commissions of the South and North and because there was good training for the works.”

19 MAY 2009, BENTIU, SUDAN

9. Wide shot, conference of South Sudan kings, chiefs and traditional leaders
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Salva Kiir, President of the Government of South Sudan:
“Because of some concerns we’ve raised about the way the population census was carried out in North Sudan, we made it clear that the census results are not to be used in the power and wealth sharing agreement and to maintain the current population ratio within the south and north as per the provision of the CPA.”
11. Med shot, chief at the conference
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Salva Kiir, President of the Government of South Sudan:
“In order to have confidence in the forthcoming elections it is advisable to de-link the contested results of the population census from the general elections and to use, if necessary, the old geographical constituencies.”
13. Med shot, chiefs at the conference

Storyline

Sudan’s Central Bureau of Statistics today (21 May) released the long-awaited census results marking a milestone in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed between the North and the South in 2005.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yasin Al-Haj Abdeen, Director of the Bureau of Statistics:
“The presidency has approved the first census, which is known as the fifth population census.”

Although delayed, the April 2008 census put the total population of the country at 39.15 million, with 30.89 million people living in North and 8.26 million in Southern Sudan.

Darfur’s population was found to be 7.5 million, a figure more than twice that of the previous census in 1993.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Yasin Al-Haj Abdeen, Director of the Bureau of Statistics:
“The reason why this census is so successful is because there was good coordination between the two commissions of the South and North and because there was good training for the works.”

The southern partners to the 2005 peace deal have dismissed the results on the grounds that the figures for the south of do not meet the expected one third of the total population.

Speaking about the census in a public conference in Bentiu earlier this week, the president of the government of Southern Sudan Salva Kiir expressed dissatisfaction with results.

SOUNDBITE (English) Salva Kiir, President of the Government of South Sudan:
“Because of some concerns we’ve raised about the way the population census was carried out in North Sudan, we made it clear that the census results are not to be used in the power and wealth sharing agreement and to maintain the current population ratio within the south and north as per the provision of the CPA.”

The census results are to be used to define constituencies ahead of general elections in 2010.

SOUNDBITE (English) Salva Kiir, President of the Government of South Sudan:
“In order to have confidence in the forthcoming elections it is advisable to de-link the contested results of the population census from the general elections and to use if necessary, the old geographical constituencies.”

While some of the census details – including those about housing, literacy, disability and fuel use – will only be made public within the next three to four months, the published results included information about the most populated states and migration.

Khartoum State proved to be the most populated with 5.27 million inhabitants, of which only 3.14 originated from there. Western Bahr-el-Ghazal had the lowest head count at 333,000 people.

Digital mapping techniques were used for the current census, as opposed to manually drawn maps of previous ones. The UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) assisted with the distribution of census forms throughout Southern Sudan.