UN may establish monitoring panel for South Sudan referendum

August 5, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — The United Nations Secretary general Ban Ki-Moon may form a three-member panel to monitor the 2011 South Sudan referendum, a request that was made by the ruling National Congress Party and the Sudan people Liberation Movement (SPLM).

“The secretary general is considering the idea of creating a panel of three people, supported by 20 people on the ground, just to monitor [the referendum] in full coordination with other observers from the EU [European Union], AU [African Union] and the [US-based] Carter Center,” Alain Le Roy, the head of UN peacekeeping operations told reporters on Wednesday.

Roy said that the panel supported by 10 to 20 people on the ground, which would report directly to him.

The senior UN official however, did not say who would pick the members of the committee or the criteria that will be used for selection.

Preparations for the referendum are falling well behind schedule and some observers are beginning to doubt that it will be held as schedule on January 9, 2011.

Both the SPLM and the NCP are trading blames over the delay particularly with regard to border demarcation. Complicating the matter is insistence on the part of NCP that no referendum will be held without completing the process of demarcation.

The SPLM rejects this condition saying the referendum date must be honored.

(ST)