The Foreign Service Journal, June 2010

10 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 1 0 That is also the conclusion of a Con- gressional Research Service report re- leased in April, “Foreign Aid Reform, National Strategy and the QDDR.” After Sudan’s Election: What’s Next? The April 10-15 multiparty elec- tions in Sudan, the first in 24 years, represented a landmark moment in the history of a nation torn by internal factions and civil war. On April 26, the incumbent presi- dent of Sudan and head of the ruling National Congress Party, General Omar al-Bashir, was officially declared the winner, with 68 percent of the vote. Salva Kiir, head of the opposition Sudanese People’s Liberation Move- ment, was elected president of semi- autonomous South Sudan, with more than 90 percent of the vote. Though observers such as the Carter Center and others have ac- knowledged that the electoral process was not up to international standards, the international community, includ- ing the U.S., appears to have accepted the results. It is now turning its atten- tion to the critical January 2011 refer- endum on possible independence for South Sudan. Washington, which leads the “Su- dan Troika” (including the U.K. and Norway), expressed regret that the Na- tional Elections Commission did not fully implement preventive measures against voter fraud and intimidation. But it applauded the Sudanese people for an election that was “peaceful and meaningful” and urged the authorities to “build on the progress made so far to expand democratic space in Sudan and ensure full respect for human rights.” The group added: “The Compre- hensive Peace Agreement [signed in 2005 between the NCP government and the SPLM] remains essential for peace and stability in Sudan and the region. We urge all parties in Sudan to resume and accelerate work to com- plete its implementation” ( www. state.gov ). In an April 29 interview with the Voice of America ( www.voanews. com ), Hagmajid Swar, head of the Po- litical Mobilization Secretariat of Su- dan’s ruling NCP, said the party had begun talks with the other political parties to resolve Sudan’s problems. The April elections were mandated by the CPA. That agreement estab- lished a coalition government between the NCP and SPLM, ordered devel- opment of democratic governance C Y B E R N O T E S 50 Years Ago... M ost of all, it seems to me, the Service must learn to appreci- ate individuality, even eccentricity, and to recognize that re- wards should not be for conformity, but for gumption and creativeness. … Conformity makes for a smooth-running, easily administered organization. But an organization of unimaginative and unassertive conformists, with all their personality corners smoothly rounded off, will never produce the diplomacy that will guide our country through the perilous times ahead. Furthermore, it will not even be permitted to try; as the recent Brookings Institu- tion report clearly foreshadows, more and more of the leadership in foreign affairs will be taken away from our department and lodged elsewhere. — Frank Hopkins, from “Individuality in the Foreign Service,” FSJ , June 1960.