Death threats target Southern Sudanese in Uganda so as not register: report

November 23, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – Southern Sudanese living in Uganda are receiving death threats so that they refrain from signing up for the January 9, 2011 referendum, officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

The citizens of South Sudan will decide whether they want their own state or remain united with the North though it is all but certain that independence will be the overwhelming choice.

The North has accused the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) that it is seeking to close any possible loopholes that could possibly make Southerners vote against secession.

The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has threatened not to recognize the referendum outcome if the South Sudan ruling party does not refrain from what it described as intimidation of voters.

Staff from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) running the registration have also received menacing calls and letters.

“There have been death threats by telephone, in letters, banging on doors in the middle of the night,” a diplomatic source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source said the threats were targeting potential voters and staff working for the IOM. The Geneva-based migration organization declined to comment.

There has been conflicting reports last week that emerged saying that the SPLM asked Southerners in Uganda to boycott the registration but the ex-rebel movement denied making such a call.

“We have heard these allegations that reckless individuals are trying to scare people from voting in Uganda … The reports are definitely that it is southern Sudanese. They think maybe the process is going to be rigged so they are going out of their way to scare people from registering,” said referendum commission member Sabit Alley.

Alley said commission staff were visiting Uganda to check the reports and the progress of the registration. It was too early to say how the Ugandan operation was going, but reports of the threats may have cut registration in rural areas, he added.

Senior SPLM official Anne Itto on Tuesday told journalists her party had not been involved in any intimidation of voters, without referring specifically to Uganda.

Eight countries are currently registering Diaspora voters for the referendum; Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Australia.

(ST)