Prevent ‘war’ outbreak in South Sudan, groups

By Julius N. Uma

June 29, 2010 (JUBA) — With hardly six months to Sudan’s long-awaited referendum, a non-governmental pressure group, dubbed “Count Down to Southern Sudan
Referendum,” has urged the Government of Southern Sudan to prevent
situations that are likely to drag the region back to ‘war’.

The referendum for possible southern independence, earmarked for early
next year, is a key requirement in Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (CPA); the accord that ended nearly three decades of a
bloody civil war between north and south.

In a press conference held in Kampala, Uganda over the weekend,
members of the pressure group also appealed to the Ugandan government
to assist its Southern Sudan counterpart in providing the
“leadership”
essential for the success of the much-anticipated 2011 referendum.

Ambassador John Andruga Duku, a former CPA negotiator, reportedly
expressed dismay over delays in voters’ registration processes, saying
government should expedite pre-referendum processes.

“To-date registration of voters for the referendum has not yet
started, yet we have very limited time left,” Ambassador Duku was
quoted saying, adding that Uganda and other regional countries need to
step up measures that will prevent possible outbreak of ‘war’ after
the January referendum.

“This is [a] historic referendum that will increase the number of
African countries by one. It’s a single opportunity that needs to be
fully utilized,” the ex-CPA negotiator further observed.

INDEPENDENT REFERENDUM COMMISSION

The pressure group initiative comes barely a month after a coalition
of civil society activists, under the Southern Sudan Civil Society
Referendum Taskforce, emerged to advocate for the formation of an
independent referendum commission.

This taskforce, they argued, will serve as a think tank for
information sharing, analysis and dissemination, and act as an
advocacy group that will promote the needs of the population prior to
the forthcoming referendum.

Meanwhile, a position paper presented by the Civil Society Referendum
Taskforce, called upon the government to ensure that the 2009
Referendum Act is widely circulated among the masses.

“How do you expect someone to participate in the referendum with
relative ease when he or she does not even know what the referendum
law says? This is ridiculous and we need to avoid certain unfortunate
scenarios that unfolded during the past elections,” a member of the
taskforce told Sudan Tribune yesterday.

(ST)