UN referendum panel begins third visit to Sudan

December 19, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – The United Nations Secretary-General’s Panel tasked with monitoring the upcoming referenda on self-determination in Sudan arrived in Khartoum Saturday to hold meetings with officials from the north and south of the country.

As well as meeting politicians from the national and southern regional governments they will also meet the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC), who are conducting the referendum, with technical assistance from the UN, as well as international and domestic observer groups and foreign diplomats.

The third visit of the UN panel comes three weeks before voting is due to start on January 9, with most observers anticipating that the south will chose to secede from the north.

Sudan’s south was given the right to separate from the north in a 2005 peace deal between the north and south of Africa’s largest country following decades of civil war.

Voter registration for the poll ended on December 8 and was described as credible by the UN Mission in Sudan who are helping implement the referendum and the Carter Center who are observing the process.

Earlier this week the panel met with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council in New York ‘to discuss their work and the latest developments on the ground’ according to a press release.

The chair of the Panel, former President of Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa, upon his arrival in Khartoum said that the voter registration process was “transparent and largely peaceful and orderly.”

“Momentum is building towards the vote on 9 January and preparations remain on course. Now we are in the exhibitions and appeals period, which is an important phase in the process, but we hope it can be concluded speedily and the vote can take place on time in a peaceful and successful manner.”

Completed only four weeks before voting is due to begin, the process is lagging way behind the schedule laid out in the Referendum Law, which stipulated that three months should be allocated for voter lists to be finalized and appeals heard.

Ban established the Panel monitor the processes of the southern referendum and the plebiscite in the contested border region of Abyei. The Panel is also tasked with helping to two parties of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) to solve the disputes that are likely to and have already arisen.

Last week the UN confirmed that northern warplanes had bombed areas of South Sudan, despite denials from the north’s ruling party and the military.

The two sides have also not been able to agree on post-referendum arrangements in the event of unity or separation and have both accused the other of amassing troops in border regions raising fears of a return to conflict.

According to the African Union negotiations are due to recommence in the southern capital, Juba, on Monday.

Aside from President Mkapa, the Panel’s members are António Monteiro, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, and Bhojraj Pokharel, a former Chairman of the Election Commission of Nepal.

(ST)