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Sudan Tribune

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EU observers to assess voter-registration for south Sudan referendum

November 11, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The European Union (EU) will deploy a team of observers in Sudan to assess the voter-registration for south Sudan’s upcoming vote on independence, a statement released by the EU announced on Friday.

Voter-registration for south Sudan’s referendum vote on independence is set to begin on November 15 and last until December 01.

According to the timetable released by Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), which oversees the process, a final list of voters would be published on January 4, five days before the start of voting on January, 9 2010.

The EU’s statement said that the 16-strong team of independent observers would assess the voter registration and later brief the European Observation Mission (EOM) on their findings.

“It is the first time that the European Union will observe a voter registration process,” said the statement which was released in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

There are nearly 3000 registration centers set up by the referendum commission, 2623 of them distributed in the ten states of south Sudan while the rest is divided between 15 states in the north, including 72 centers in Khartoum.

Voter-registration will also be conducted in seven foreign countries which are Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Britain, USA, Canada and Egypt.

The EU further revealed it would dispatch a team of observers led by Member of the European Parliament Veronique de Keyser to Sudan in mid-December to monitor the actual voting process. Veronique de Keyser previously led the EU Elections Observation Mission to Sudan, which in April’s 2010 monitored the country’s national elections.

South Sudan referendum is the final stipulation of the 2005’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended decades of civil war between north and south Sudan.

South Sudan citizens, who are mostly African and Christians, will have to decide whether they wish to remain united with the Muslim, Arab-dominated north or secede to form their independent state. A yes vote by southerners is all but certain, say most observers.

Preparations for the vote have proceeded haltingly amid logistical and technical obstacles. Last month, SSRC Chairman Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil said that holding the vote as scheduled in January 2010 would be a “miracle.”

The Atlanta-based Carter Center already has a team of observers on the ground preparing to monitor the voter-registration process.

Last month, the Carter Center urged Sudanese officials “to accelerate preparations for the conduct of voter registration and the referendum, including the training of staff, distribution of materials, clarification of eligibility requirements, and the expansion of voter education.”

The Center further expressed concern over what it described as the lack of clarity on how voters can prove their eligibility, saying that the Referendum Act provides “little guidance” on this matter.

(ST)

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