South Sudan referendum should not create panic, Machar tells US official

By James Gatdet Dak

June 27, 2010 (JUBA) — The Vice President of the semi-autonomous region of Southern Sudan, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, said the upcoming referendum on the future of the region should not create panic in the minds of people in both North and South, despite being a decisive moment and concern among the Sudanese people.

He said even if the referendum would result to the independence of the South, as popular opinion of the people of Southern Sudan currently indicates, the two parties and their populations in their respective regions should instead focus on building confidence and good relations based on common interests and mutual cooperation between them.

Machar made the remarks during his meeting with the visiting US Assistant Secretary of States for African Affairs, Johnny Carson. The meeting discussed the ongoing preparations for the conduct of the referendum in Southern Sudan and Abyei, among others, and the forthcoming US government support toward the exercises.

He briefed the American top White House diplomat in charge of African Affairs on the work of the Southern Sudan Referendum Taskforce under his chairmanship. The Taskforce, he said, is organized into three sub-committees. These are on the conduct of the referendum, the post-referendum arrangements and the post-2011 governance in Southern Sudan.

The two parties to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party (NCP), last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a roadmap for issues of post-referendum arrangements.

The document was signed in Mekele town in Ethiopia between Pagan Amum Okiech, Secretary General of the SPLM, also representing the Government of Southern Sudan and a NCP representative, also representing the Government of National Unity (GoNU).

In a statement to the press, the minister of Information and official spokesperson, Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, explained that the agreement was about the modalities and structures for future discussions on the post-referendum issues. These issues include the future of assets, liabilities, oil (its production and transport), security (such as the fate of southerners in the Sudan Armed Forces and vice versa), Nile waters, international agreements, etc.

The sub-committee on the conduct of the referendum is headed by the Minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development, John Luk Jok. This will be responsible for the conduct of the referendum, including mobilization of the population, provision of civic education and security during the referendum and so on.

The third sub-committee will deal with preparing the Government of Southern Sudan for a post-2011 governance, particularly on decentralization in Southern Sudan, including the review of the interim constitution, and it is headed by the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Kosti Manibe, three of the sub-committees making up the overall Task Force chaired by the Vice President.

Machar also informed the US diplomat that the National Assembly in Khartoum was expected to endorse the membership of the would-be formed technical Southern Sudan Referendum Commission early in the week.

The Vice President who also heads his party’s negotiation team with the National Congress Party (NCP) expressed that if the demarcation process of the North-South borders would be completed on time before the conduct of the referendum, this would build confidence between the two parties during the referendum.

He however added that in case of delay or failure to reach an agreement on the contentious 20% border issues, then the delay should not be used as an excuse to postpone the conduct of the referendum. “Borders can be discussed even after the referendum…and should not create war,” he said.

Machar said there are individuals who beat the drums of war within the National Congress Party without knowing that they are shooting themselves in the foot as both parties can lose dearly.

“We fought the war for a very long time. They lost the war and we also lost the war,” he said, referring to the pre-CPA situation during which neither party scored a decisive military victory and have control over the other.

“In terms of human life, in terms of material resources, and in terms of economy of the country and development in our regions, we both lost,” he told the American diplomat.

Borders can still be discussed even after the referendum, he said, adding that it would be very difficult for the leadership in the South to tell the people of Southern Sudan to postpone the referendum until the North-South borders are completely demarcated.

He further explained that experiences in the world show that it can take longer period of time to agree on specifics of borders and complete their physical demarcations on the ground. “It took Norway and Russia forty (40) years discussing their borders,” he said, recalling that the US and Canada have also been discussing their borders up to date.

The Vice President added that the issue of the referendum and North-South borders should not create panic, or a situation like that of Ethiopia and Eritrea in 1998, saying the two parties should instead positively use such political events and post-referendum arrangements as a common means to build future good relations.

He added that trade, social interactions and movement of people across the borders will continue, given their common resources “like the flow of the Nile.”

He stressed that the two parties should not see the borders as barriers, saying it is important that the two regions maintain soft borders. Machar argued that using the borders as barriers can easily cause panic, given the fact that there are southerners in the North as well as northerners in the South who may want to continue to live in their respective places of residence or move across the borders even in the event of secession.

“We don’t want to create panic with immediate split between North and South. This is why it is important that we also discuss the issue of citizenship,” he said.

During a lecture organized last week at the University of Juba, Machar pointed out that if referendum resulted to secession, Southern Sudanese living in the North would lose their citizenship unless an agreement was reached between the two parties to allow them to maintain their citizenship right. He further added that this would, however, be different from a secession which would result to the dissolution of the current Sudanese state and formation of new re-emerging independent states.

He appealed to the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs for the need to provide logistical and financial support including expertise to train Southern Sudan police to ensure success in the conduct of a free and fair referendum as well as assist in civic education.

The US diplomat, Carson, expressed his country’s readiness to work with the two parties and the international community and ensure the conduct of a free and fair referendum in which the people of Southern Sudan will decide their destiny, adding that his government is going to upgrade the mandate of its Consulate in the Southern Sudan capital, Juba, and coordinate the US efforts, as he introduced the new Consul General, Berry Walkley.

(ST)