Dalia Haj-Omar (sometimes written Haj Omar) is a Sudanese human rights activist and conflict management expert who has worked extensively in the Middle East and Africa. She has managed, designed, monitored, and evaluated United States Agency for International Development/Office of Transition Initiatives-funded projects in Sudan, and has been officially identified as a Senior Development Officer at Development Alternatives, Inc., and as being associated with GIRIFNA, the Sudanese Non-Violent Resistance Movement. She has also worked with Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, The World Bank, and Chemonics. Her reportage and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as The New York Times and Foreign Affairs. Haj-Omar is based in France. According to one source, "she felt she had to leave" Sudan "because the regime was watching her work." She speaks Arabic and English and is proficient in French. Education She holds an M.A. in International Development and Development Economics from Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame. Activism and writing Haj-Omar wrote in June 2009 that "Iran's Green Revolution shows that freedom and citizenship rights are universal and that even an Islamic regime that came through legitimate elections can be questioned and rejected by those who put it in power." Nonetheless, "Sudan is very far from Iran's political context and from having political institutions that function." In a March 2010 article, Haj-Omar lamented that Sudan did "not look like a country preparing for its first national elections in 24 years," given the continued censorship of newspapers and the "complete absence of public campaigning by political parties." Noting that the political environment was "highly restrictive," she maintained that "the ruling party must open up the political space to all key participants," or else "the election will suffer a severe lack of credibility even before it takes place." She cited critical statements by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) about foreign assistance from the U.S. and Norwegian Church Aid as evidence that “the NCP is trying to appeal to the sentiments of Sudanese people by depicting Western or ‘foreign’ intervention as a sign that the country is under attack — and that they are the party best suited to protecting the country's sovereignty.” She acknowledged that the election was no “magic pill,” but added that “an election conducted in a transparent and just manner is likely to shift the country away from election-related