Recently the Sudanese government appointed the African Union High Level Panel for

Implementation in Sudan led by former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki to facilitate
negotiations on Sudans referendum. Mbeki and the panel are charged with leading negotiations
between the ruling National Congress Party and the Southern Sudanese Liberation Movement in
the south on all outstanding issues in the lead up to the referendum.
Mbeki and the panel have a big responsibility. They must support the Sudanese government and
the Sudanese people to ensure an inclusive, transparent, and comprehensive process. The
referendum will be dealing with issues that are of vital consequence to the people of Sudan,
including the division of national economic resources, the redefining of citizenship, and border
demarcation. The process must be, above all, inclusive.

And an integral part of the responsibility to be inclusive is ensuring that those most affected by
the referendum have a voice namely, Sudanese women. Achieving lasting peace and security in
Sudan is not possible without womens full inclusion and especially within decision-making
processes. Yet, up to now, women are almost invisible.

Following Aprils elections in Sudan, only two of 35 cabinet ministers and six of 42 ministers for
state are women. There are no women at the decision-making level in the Darfur negotiations at
Doha a process that is plagued by problems and proving to be ineffectual. And now there is a
conspicuous lack of women in formal leadership positions for the referendum. Indeed, of the
nine people appointed by the Sudanese government to the Referendum Commission, there is
only one woman. This is far from the 30 per cent advocated for by Mbeki and his panel, the 25
per cent demanded by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and well below international
standards.

2010 not only marks the start of the African Union Decade of Women but also the 10-year
anniversary of United Nations Security Councils resolution 1325, which mandates womens full
participation in peace processes. In short, there is simply no excuse for womens exclusion from
current peace negotiations on Darfur nor from the upcoming referendum or other decision-
making processes within Sudan.

Thus far, the work of Mbeki and his panel has demonstrated an understanding of why Sudanese
women need to be at the forefront of all conflict-resolution processes, in Darfur and across
Sudan. This commitment to womens leadership must be renewed and acted upon as the panels
work on the referendum moves forward. The panel and the African leaders supporting Mbeki
and his colleagues have a historic opportunity to demonstrate their support to Sudanese women.

In declaring 2010 the Year of Peace and Security in Africa, the African Union set the gauntlet to
take extraordinary measures to engage in activities to promote and consolidate peace processes
across the continent. What better time is there for the AU to demonstrate its commitment to
Sudans peace process by demanding greater space for Sudanese women to play a vital role?