South Sudan referendum commission grants EU monitoring rights

October 6, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The commission that is tasked with overseeing the South Sudan self-determination referendum signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Union (EU) allowing the latter to monitor the key vote and setting the ground rules for the work of their observers.

The commission spokesman Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim was quoted by Sudan state agency (SUNA) as saying that the MoU includes clauses on the rights and obligations of the EU monitors who will be deployed in several states.

Ibrahim said that between 80-85 EU observers were expected to monitor the vote.

Carlo De Filippi, the head of the EU delegation in Khartoum, told Agence France Presse (AFP) that the European body ” remains committed to support the referendum in Sudan”.

“The European Observation Mission is an independent body who will cover both the registration and polling periods,” he added.

Northerners and southerners ended decades of civil war in Africa’s largest country with a 2005 peace deal meant to conclude with two votes — one on whether the oil-producing south should secede and a second on whether the disputed region of Abyei should join the south or north.

Arrangements for the vote have fallen behind schedule and analysts warn there is a risk of return to conflict if the vote is delayed or disrupted beyond the set date of Jan. 9, 2011.

The voter registration for the South Sudan referendum vote will begin on November 14 and will end on December 4th.

Polling will take place across Sudan but only those able to prove they come from the south will be eligible to vote.

Voting will also take place in eight other countries — neighbouring Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Egypt, as well as in Australia, Britain, the United States and Canada.

In those countries, the intergovernmental International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will assist the registration process, Reec said.

(ST)