UN chief holds talks with Sudan’s Vice-President on referenda, Darfur

September 25, 2010 (NEW YORK) –- The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday held talks in New York with Sudan’s Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha concerning the upcoming referendum vote on south Sudan’s self-determination as well as the situation in the troubled western region of Darfur.

The meeting was held on the margins of the UN’s General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York and was part of Ban’s “ongoing efforts to try to ensure that two key referenda on self-determination in the African country are staged peacefully and on schedule next January,” said a statement released by Ban’s spokesman.

Sudan has recently featured prominently in international agendas as it approaches a crucial vote in January 2011 on the possible full independence of its already semi-autonomous region of south Sudan. Many analysts believe that southern Sudanese, the majority of whom follow Christianity or traditional beliefs, will opt for secession from the Arab, Musilm-dominated north.

A parallel vote is due to be held on whether the contested oil-producing area of Abyei should remain in the north or join the south in the event of secession.

The two plebiscites are the culmination of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which in 2005 ended decades of north-south civil war.

Ban’s meeting with Taha comes on the heels of a high-profile international meeting held on 24 September in New York on the political situation in Sudan ahead of the referendum. The meeting was attended by Taha and south Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, as well as a host of international dignitaries including US President Barack Obama.

The attendants urged Sudanese leaders to hold the referendum as planned and resolve key post-referenda arrangements. Those include border demarcation, security, citizenship, migration issues and foreign debts.

Ban and Taha also agreed on the need for “a fair and credible poll, to be held on the due date and free from intimidation and violence,” according to the UN’s news center.

Furthermore, the two officials touched on the issue of the ongoing conflict in Darfur region and the progress of peace talks with rebel groups.

Darfur region has been devastated by an abusive counterinsurgency campaign mounted by government forces and their allied militias known as the Jangaweed against rebel groups who took up arms against the Khartoum government in 2003.

UN agencies estimate the seven-year conflict has killed 300.000 people and driven more than 2.000.000 from their homes to seek shelter in refugee camps.

(ST)