Jubilant Southerners turn out in droves to vote in Kenya

By Muhammad Osman

January 9, 2011 (NAIROBI) – Hundreds of southern Sudanese on Sunday exuded a mood of jubilation as they swamped the polling station at the Railway Club in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to cast their votes in a crucial referendum whose outcome should determine whether the semi-autonomous region will remain united with north Sudan or secede to form an independent state.

Ululating crowds of southerners gathered early on Sunday morning and queued up in front of the polling station at the Railway Club in downtown Nairobi, waving south Sudan flags and chanting slogans calling for secession and a new state in south Sudan.

The plebiscite, which will run until 15 January, is the final stipulation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace agreement (CPA), which ended nearly half a century of intermittent civil war between the predominantly Arab-Muslim north and the south where most people identify themselves as Africans and ascribe to Christianity or traditional beliefs.

Nearly four million southerners have registered to vote domestically and abroad. A turnout of 60% of registered voters is required to render the referendum’s result valid, whereas a simple majority of 51% will determine the outcome.

Kenya is among eight countries selected to host Out of Country voting centers; the rest are Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, the UK and the US. OCV countries were selected on the basis of having a significantly large number of southerners.

Out of the 60,241 southern Sudanese who have registered abroad, a total of 15, 062 southerners have registered as voters in Kenya, putting it on top of OCV countries in terms of the number of voters.

Beside the two polling stations at the Railway Club and Blue Springs Hotel in Nairobi, there are six polling stations spread out across the country.

One center in Dadaab town in the North Eastern Province, Eldoret Center of the Rift Valley Province, one in the western town of Kitale, one in Nakuru, and two centers in Kakuma town which hosts Kenya Refugee Camp that shelters an estimated number of 23,000 southerners, according to the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR.

The scene at the Railway Club’s polling station appeared fairly disorganized, with many people shoving one another to reach the door of the station as a few Kenyan policemen struggled to contain them.

Outside the polling station, there were celebrating crowds of southerners from nearly all age brackets. They were holding flags, dancing in groups and chanting “referendum, separation, new nation.”

There was also heavy presence of local and international journalists accompanied by cameramen, interviewing voters and taking photos of joyful women singing ballads in Dinka language.

Majak, an ex-army soldier wearing a white T-shirt saying “I am for Separation”, told Sudan Tribune that this day reminds him of his days in the bush fighting for his freedom.

“I would not leave here until I cast my vote” he said. Majak is as blunt as his T-Shirt, “I am voting for secession” he declared.

For Garang, another voter, this day represents “the future of our people.”

When Sudan Tribune interviewed him, Garang said he had not voted yet because he wants to give old people the chance to vote first.

Garang has little doubt that the people of south Sudan “have decided to have their own state,” adding that he hopes the outcome of the vote would be in favor of secession.

(ST)