AU council calls for deployment of observers for South Sudan’s referendum
By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
December 22, 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (PSC-AU) requested the AU Commission to take all necessary measures to dispatch as large as possible team of observers to monitor the upcoming referendum in Sudan, an AU press statement said on Wednesday.
The upcoming referendum is a key part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the former rebels the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), that ended decades of north-south civil war in Sudan.
In its 254th meeting, held on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, the AU council adopted various decisions on the implementation of the agreement.
The council encouraged all AU member states in a position to do so to deploy observers, at their own expense under the auspices of the AU, in order to strengthen the AU presence on the ground.
It reaffirmed the union’s firm stance on the importance for Sudan and for Africa as a whole that a peaceful self-determination referendum goes as planned in Southern Sudan, in January 2011.
According to the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the council recalled the relevant provisions of the CPA signed on 9 January 2005, in Kenya, in particular those relating to the international supervision of the self?determination referendum.
The vote is to be jointly organized by the Government of Sudan and the SPLM/A, to allow the people of southern Sudan either to confirm the unity of Sudan or to secede. The council also recalls that the African Union, along with other countries and international organizations, is among the guarantors of the CPA.
Southern Sudanese are slated due to vote on January 9, 2011 on whether the south will secede to create a new state or remain in a united Sudan. According to analysts, the vote is likely to be in favor of independence, however there are growing fears that it could also be a flashpoint for renewed conflict in the vast African nation.
Last week, Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir addressing delegates in the 5th international conference on Federalism in Addis Ababa, reiterated that the ruling NCP is prepared to peacefully accept the outcomes of the referendum regardless of the outcome.
He also stressed that the upcoming ‘‘referendum must not be used as an excuse for a renewed civil war in Sudan’’.
In October the United Nations Mission in Sudan confirmed that the northern army, loyal to Bashir, bombed areas of the south. The Sudan Armed Forces admitted that one incident took place while pursuing Darfur rebels, but denied the other bombings took place.
(ST)