Voters in South Sudan commend leadership for successful referendum on independence

January 15, 2011 (JUBA) – As southern Sudan’s week-long self determination referendum closed on Saturday, citizens in streets of the regional capital, Juba, expressed their happiness with the various authorities in the region and particularly the leadership of the semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) for what they said was a very successful, well prepared and peaceful plebiscite.

In accordance with the 2005 peace deal which ended 21 years of war between north and south, the people of Southern Sudan voted from 9 – 15 January to choose between confirming the current unity of Sudan and opting to create the world’s newest independent state. An overwhelming majority are expected to vote for secession, which will finally lead to the declaration of an independent country by July 9.

The turnout requirement of over 60% was after the third day of polling according to the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission. Ballot counting, to determine the outcome of the vote, either for secession or unity, will begin from various centers immediately one day after the end of voting. Vote counting will continue at county, state and South Sudan level until February 1, when the overall preliminary results shall be declared.

The final result, after any appeals, will be declared on February 14. A 50%+1 vote is required for either unity or secession option to win.

Thousands of international and national observers including party agents were deployed at polling centers across the south as well as at polling stations in northern Sudan, and in eight countries with large southern Sudanese populations.

Some of the main international observers including the Carter Center, the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) have already voiced their preliminary appreciation and satisfaction the referendum exercise has been credible. Officials of the northern ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) have also described the voting as smooth and peaceful or free, fair and orderly.

In the streets of the Southern Sudan’s capital, Juba, citizens congratulated the leaderships in both the north and the south and the international community, for the successful conduct of the referendum.

“When the implementation process started two years ago during the negotiations of the referendum law [between NCP and SPLM], I thought it was not going to succeed given the tricky positions of the NCP in the past. But now the referendum, we [South Sudanese] have been talking about for decades, is finally here as we vote to determine our future,” said Gatluak Chol, who runs a bar in Juba town.

“I knew that our [South Sudan] leadership had been very serious and working hard to implement the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement], especially the self-determination referendum which is the nucleus of the CPA. I thank the referendum commission for the well organized voting process. My thanks also go to the Southern Sudan referendum taskforce for financially and logistically supporting the referendum commission and giving guidance to security organs that availed the police during the exercise. I also commend President Bashir of Sudan and the assistance provided by the international community in the process,” said Mary Ladu, a government official.

For the last six years since the formation of Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) in 2005, the national government represented by the NCP and GoSS represented by the SPLM engaged on high level series of debates in implementing the CPA. The Vice President of Sudan, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, who was the NCP’s chief negotiator during the CPA negotiations in Naivasha, Kenya, led the northern team, while the GoSS Vice President and deputy chairman of the southern ruling SPLM, Riek Machar, led the southern team.

Preparation for the referendum process, like some other provisions in the CPA, fell behind schedule, which led some southern Sudanese to fear that it would not go ahead. The issue of agreeing with the north that a quorum of 60% was needed for the exercise to be valid was not popularly welcome among Southern Sudanese who felt that the threshold was higher than it needed to be and might not be met. The issue caused delay to the process but was finally overcome after the SPLM conceded to the percentage.

Another controversial issue arose over the appointment of the management of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, which also caused delay to the process with the commission chairman threatening to resign. The South wanted the position of the Secretary General of the Commission after the north took the chairmanship, deputized by a southerner.

Finally the South compromised the position but created additional positions for two deputies to the secretary general. While the commission’s chairman and Secretary General (both northerners) are based in the national capital, Khartoum, the deputy chairman of the Commission, Chan Reec Madut, and the southern deputy Secretary General, Stephen Abraham Gatlok, are based in Juba’s branch office, with their respective staff.

To help the southern government organize and conduct the referendum in February 2010, Salva Kiir, the region’s president appointed a taskforce to ensure the GoSS carry out its obligations financially and logistically so that the referendum process would be organized and conducted successfully in peaceful, free and fair manner. Riek Machar, Kiir’s deputy, was made chairman of the task force, which was divided into three groups to focus on the conduct of referendum, negotiations on post-referendum issues and preparing GoSS governance after referendum.

While the Taskforce sub-committee on conduct of referendum, led by the minister of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development, John Luk Jok, is winding up its role after the successful conduct of the plebiscite, the other two sub-committees on post-referendum issues, led by Pagan Amum, minister of Peace and CPA Implementation, and post-referendum governance, led by Kosti Manibe, minister of Cabinet Affairs, will continue.

The leadership also mobilized international partners, southern opposition political parties and other civil society organizations including Christian and Muslim communities in Southern Sudan to achieve harmonized collective efforts and play active roles in the referendum process in order to make the event a success.

Speaking to Sudan Tribune on Saturday, Daniel Athian, a mini-bus driver, confidently said that the South has answered the repeated question from the north over the region’s fate. “There has been this question coming from the north repeatedly asking ‘what does the South want.’ In this referendum vote we have answered loud and clear that the South wants; separation from the north,” he said.

He appreciated the current attitude of the northern ruling party, NCP, for what he described as their change of heart, which has allowed the plebiscite to take place freely, fairly and in a peaceful environment. Athian said he appreciated the GoSS leadership for what he termed as “skillful negotiations in implementation of the provisions of the CPA.”

(ST)