Darfur people may be left out of Sudan election: U.N.

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - When Sudan holds its first democratic elections in over two decades next year, people in the conflict-ravaged region of Darfur may be left out, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said Friday.

"The contested census, large-scale displacement and volatility -- particularly in the area bordering Chad -- create enormous risks that the people of Darfur will not be in a position to participate in the electoral process," U.N. under-secretary-general Alain Le Roy said.

"This would further disenfranchise millions already disempowered by conflict," he told the U.N. Security Council, adding that the election results will have an "enormous impact" on the distribution of political power in Darfur where millions of internally displaced refugees live in camps.

Last month Sudan said its nationwide elections would be delayed for two months to April 2010, the second time the date has been changed.

The poll in Africa's largest country will be the first in more than 20 years under a 2005 peace deal -- the Comprehensive Peace Agreement -- that ended over two decades of civil war between north and south Sudan.

The conflict in Darfur in western Sudan dates back to 2003, when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Khartoum, accusing it of neglecting the region. The government mobilized troops and mostly Arab militias to crush the uprising.

Estimates of the death count in Darfur range from 10,000 according to Khartoum, to as high as 300,000 according to U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes.

CONCERNS ABOUT BASHIR INDICTMENT