U.S. moving on Sudan with full force, rejects any referendum delay

October 22, 2010 (WASHINGTON) – The United States today made it clear that it wants the January 2011 independence vote in South Sudan despite talks by northern officials about a postponement and a fresh push by Egypt in that direction.

The referendums in south Sudan and the oil-rich region of Abyei were a centrepiece of a 2005 accord which ended two decades of civil war in which about two million people died. Preparations for the key votes have proceeded haltingly amid political and logistical obstacles, and the southerners have accused the northerners of stalling, warning of violence if the referendum is delayed.

Furthermore, it is all but certain that the Abyei referendum will be delayed as the commission to oversee it has not been established yet. NCP officials have publicly asserted that the oil-rich region will not have its vote held as scheduled as issues of border demarcation and eligibility of voters have yet to be resolved.

“We are committed to on-time referenda in both Abyei and in Southern Sudan. And it is really up to the parties to take the decisions and to take the actions that will make this is a reality. That’s what the Comprehensive Peace Agreement stipulates and that’s what we’re holding the parties to,” the U.S. special envoy to Sudan Scott Gration told reporters at the State Department said today.

“With just 79 days remaining until January…….there is just no more time to waste. Between now and the start of registration in mid-November, the Southern Sudanese Referendum Commission must finalize voter registration procedures, it must hire and train and deploy over 10,000 registration workers. The voter registration materials, which should be delivered into Sudan in the next few days, must be distributed to all the registration sites. In addition, domestic and international monitors must be positioned to oversee this process, to guard against manipulation,” he added.

The U.S. official said that Washington in the coming period “[will] be watching the Government of Sudan to ensure they transfer necessary funds to the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, that they grant required visas to international monitors and aid workers, that they protect the Southerners who are now living in the North”.

Gration underscored the importance the U.S. attaches to next week’s meeting on Abyei between the NCP and SPLM in Addis Ababa following the failure of the first round.

“The parties must be prepared to come to Addis with an attitude of compromise. The entire world is watching and will make judgments based on how the parties approach these talks, on how they act in the next couple of months.

Last year the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) redrew the boundaries of Abyei, ceding key oilfields to north Sudan but gave the South most of the land including Abyei town which has huge areas of fertile land and one significant oilfield. The borders have yet to be demarcated to comply with the court’s verdict because of threats levelled by the Misseriya.

The SPLM has interpreted the ruling as meaning that the cattle-herding Misseriya tribe have no right to vote in areas assigned by the PCA to the Dinka Ngok.

However, the Misseriya vowed not to allow the vote to take place even if they have to resort to force unless they are allowed to participate.

The NCP and SPLM have yet to agree on contentious post-referendum arrangement for South Sudan including border demarcation, wealth sharing, water, citizenship and national debt. All these issues are considered extremely contentious and it is not clear what is the status of discussions between the two sides on these items.

Samantha Power, a National Security adviser at the White House, revealed that there are international efforts to help both sides resolve these technical issues.

“Norway has taken the lead in offering technical advice on oil revenue sharing, given its deep expertise in that area. And the UK is helping with international discussion on eventual debt relief and they are facilitating some of the border demarcation discussions, given their history in Sudan and familiarity with the maps and borders of the past,” Power said at the press conference.

“It is impossible to overstate the degree of high-level attention being given to Sudan at the White House,” she told the briefing, adding the administration was making “a full court press” to ensure the votes take place peacefully.

Power further said that U.S. president Barack Obama receives at least three weekly briefings on the issue from Denis McDonough, a senior official who was on Friday named deputy national security advisor.

In Khartoum, U.S. Senator John Kerry said at the outset of his visit which started on Friday that his country wants a “new relationship” with Sudan and would offer Khartoum immediate concessions if it holds the referendums peacefully.

“I say this to the leaders in the north that President Obama would like to find the way forward for a new relationship with Sudan,” Kerry, chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said.

He said Washington had already offered Sudan incentives, including a possible easing of economic sanctions.

“I think that people have a right to expect that if there is full cooperation and a referendum that is carried out appropriately, according to international standards, I think there ought to be an immediate reactive step of some kind.”

But he added: “If people choose the wrong road there are many other options available to us to be able to ratchet up sanctions.”

The United States has asked U.N. officials to brief the Security Council on Monday on peacekeeping preparations in Sudan including Darfur, and is stepping up contacts with aid organizations to evaluate what might happen after the votes.

(ST)