Sudan: South Sudan referendum starts as scheduled

Muslim News

09-01-2011

JUBA/KHARTOUM, (Xinhua): Sudan's southerners began to vote to decide whether the region will remain united with the north or secede to establish an independent state, as a referendum started here on Sunday.

The referendum is a major item in the the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended a two-decade civil war between north and south Sudan, that left around two million dead.

The vote started at the polling centers in both south and north Sudan at 8:00 a.m. local time (5:00 a.m. GMT) and will last till 5: 00 p.m. (14:00 GMT).

Salva Kiir Mayardit, First Vice President of Sudan and President of the Government of South Sudan, cast the first ballot at a polling station at the museum of John Garang, founder of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The security of voting centers must be guaranteed, he said after the voting. "Security forces in the south and north Sudan must make sure the security of the voting."

He noted that the property of the northern Sudanese and foreigners in south Sudan must be protected.

In a speech on Saturday, Kiir urged voters to "behave in a peaceful and respectful manner," and reiterated that there is no return to war.

"The referendum is not the end of the journey but rather it is the beginning of a new one. There is no substitute to peaceful co- existence, cooperation and partnership which we shall and are all committed to embark on in the lifetime ahead," Kiir said.

U.S. Senator John Kerry was also present at the polling center.

"I'm very excited. It's very important," Kerry, Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations told Xinhua while he observed the voting process. "I hope it will be a peaceful referendum."

Asked about the controversial issues including border demarcation and the status of the oil-rich Abyei region, Kerry said: "I think the controversial issues can be resolved as we work in good faith."

"The issues can be solved within the six-month transition period," he said.

The voting process will last for seven days to end on Jan. 15, 2011.

People waited in queue for hundreds of meters for the voting at the polling station at John Garang museum in Juba. Voters danced and sang slogans such as "Freedom is burning" ahead of the referendum.

However, Xinhua correspondent at the al-Gerif Shareg polling center in east Khartoum said that although the center was open on time and workers were ready for receiving voters, no voter has come to the center so far.

Deng Ayok, a 28-year-old university student who stopped his study in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, and returned to the south in November, led his family to vote at Juba University Sunday morning.

"I hope the referendum can reflect our will and lead to a permanent peace and stability of all Sudanese people," he said. " We had suffered so much during the civil war. We need dignity and human rights in a peaceful and stable land."

While observers believe the voters would overwhelmingly choose secession, some northern Sudanese people still bear a ray of hope for unity.

"Why separation? We (the north and the south) are one nation. The northerners and the southerners can live together peacefully," 30-year-old Sayed Radi, a mobile shop owner in Khartoum said before the referendum. "The separation of the south will make our country weaker, as we will lose a lot of oil."

The total number of the registered south Sudanese voters amounted to about 4 million, 95 percent of them in south Sudan, about 116,800 in north Sudan and 60,000 in eight overseas countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Australia, the United States, Britain and Canada.

After the expected vote for independence of the south, Sudan would enter a six-month transition period when the north and south would negotiate on thorny issues including border demarcation, the status of the oil-rich Abyei region, as well as the division of the national debts and oil revenue.

The voting centers in south Sudan amounted to more than 2,600, besides about 165 centers in north Sudan States, in addition to oversea ones.

Around 17,000 local observers together with 1,200 foreign observers are currently monitoring the south Sudan referendum to assess its compliance with the international standards.

Editor: Fang Yang

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