Thank you very much for coming from Sudan.
I have visited Sudan. I have been to Darfur as well as to Juba. I have a large community of south Sudanese living in my riding who support me and ensure that I am always kept abreast of the happenings in Sudan.
I just came back from Nigeria, and I had a very lengthy discussion with the American Secretary of State on the issue of CPA and the developments that are going to take place on this and the concern of the international community to the Government of Sudan to ensure that the CPA agreement is met. I can tell you this for your information. The international community, both the U.S.A. and Canada, have sent a letter to the President of Sudan to ensure that they stick to the agreement that was signed, as you talked about, to put pressure there.
I would like to hear your view. One of the concerns we have and I have and the international community has, as my colleague from the other side said, is that there is a very strong possibility of the south separating. The problem and what we are concerned about is that the Government of Sudan may use the referendum by saying that it was not an open, fair referendum. It's a very strong issue for us to ensure that this referendum is open, transparent, and acceptable to the international community so it does not become a tool for the Government of Sudan to say that it would not recognize the results of the referendum.
To that effect, I can tell you that the Government of Canada has called in, both from the Government of Sudan and from the government of southern Sudan, people from the electoral commission to train them here in Canada on the process of ensuring a transparent referendum. But the challenges remain, there's no question about it. I think this committee is going to look at the CPA. There is a motion in front of us. We can look further at that.
So there is no question in our minds that there are very strong issues to be addressed, and it is a very fragile situation, as you rightly pointed out. So I just want to assure you that there is a strong international oversight.
I do understand from the Americans that they may be coming out with a new policy. They didn't elaborate, but it will be coming out soon.
For Canada, with this large diaspora, we want to ensure that there is a fair, transparent referendum so that the people of Sudan can make a choice. That would be the key element. Canada of course has contributed very strongly to Darfur. As you know, we have provided a lot of logistic support to the UN mission in Darfur, including efforts to bring peace to Darfur.
I was just giving you this because I'm the parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, and I thought you should be updated on the facts of what is going on right now. I am interested in knowing from you as an NGO in Sudan, which is quite a challenging thing for you to operate in that restrictive environment, not about the challenges--we know what the challenges are--but about the space that is available for NGOs to play an important role in overseeing the Government of Sudan.
I don't want to put you on the hot seat. As you know, Bashir has been indicted by the ICC. So I'm not going to ask you that question to put you on the hot seat, because you'll be right back to Sudan. So we'll leave that out for the time being.
What I really want to know is do you see the growth of civil society taking place in Sudan? Are you seeing the growth increasing or decreasing? In meeting with the government of south Sudan, which is learning how to govern, could you give us an understanding of the role of civil society, its growth--if there is any? Do you see any restrictions happening? What do you see coming down the road?