Census Kicks Off in Juba but Uncertainty Taints the Day
JUBA, April 22 (Gurtong) – Blue caps on, jackets fastened, swinging briefcases, enumerators started walking south Sudan capital Juba’s streets as the sun came up on Tuesday, the first day of a national census.
Massive logistical efforts to transport materials across the south and thousands of trainings have taken months to prepare the war torn south for the event, key for the future of power and wealth sharing between north and south Sudan and democratic elections in 2009.
Tens of millions of dollars have been spent. But many southerners have already decided that it has been – at least in part – a waste of time.
“I don’t expect that it will be good enough, that it will benefit the south,” government official James Anyanya said.
Like others, Anyanya feels that not enough of the 4 million southerners that fled during the war to Khartoum or neighboring countries have returned to boost southern numbers.
“Who will they count; the trees?” asked southern journalist Michael Hook. “They should postpone the date until more people come back.”
Days before the original start date the southern government said they would postpone the crucial event until later this year.
After crisis talks the south grudgingly agreed to a Tuesday start but said they would not necessarily agree with the results or how they were used, which should include deciding how much oil revenue the south gets.
As the first large joint exercise between south and north, the census should have been a confidence-builder and the south’s acquiescence was met with relief from the international community.
But it is also the first chance for a large number of southerners to be directly involved in the political process of implementing the peace deal.
“(But) things are now somehow distracted,” explained one senior enumerator trainer in Western Equatoria.
He said that the teams understood why the government said it wanted to delay, giving more southerners time to return.
“It was sudden and badly planned … (But) if they had stuck to their original position that would have been meaningful. But now it is not so meaningful,” he said.
The enumerator’s have always been ready for a challenge. The south is massively under-developed with few roads and vast distances, swamps and rivers between communities, many of which are nomadic.
Few southerners have televisions and the government radio service does not always cover the entire semi-autonomous region where many communities, isolated by war, will be counted for the first time.
But the head of the south’s census body Isaiah Chol Aruai said he hoped a mass communication effort – delayed because of late funding and a tardy decision on setting a date – will overcome some cultural problems.
“(For some) if you reveal your actual number of children you can be bewitched,” Chol explained adding that the taboo can extend to wives and cattle.
Insecurity from armed groups and cattle raiders is a more immediate fear for Chol. And early rains have made easy access even less likely.
Trousers rolled up, Koma Henry Losuk has to wade part of the 8 km (5 mile) walk to his enumeration area. “It would have been advised if they had given gumboots and a raincoat,” he said.
He said he is ready to spend hours going over the long questionnaire with villagers in his area Jopa. “For things like death, you have to tell stories, like tricks to get people
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