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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Sep 24 2010 - 07:56:29 EDT
http://www.france24.com/en/20100924-sudan-un-summit-confronts-ticking-time-bomb-obama-referendum
Latest update: 24/09/2010 - referendum - Sudan - United Nations
UN summit confronts Sudanese ‘ticking time bomb’
Days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the situation
in Sudan "a ticking time bomb", world leaders are meeting at a UN
summit to discuss the country’s critical Jan. 9, 2011 referendum.
By FRANCE 24 (text)
World leaders, including US President Barack Obama, are meeting at the
United Nations in New York on Friday to add their weight behind two
critical referendums in Sudan amid growing fears that Africa’s largest
country could sidestep a difficult route to peace in favour of a
return to civil war.
Under the terms of a 2005 peace accord designed to bring an end to
decades of conflict between the north and south, Sudan is slated to
hold two referendums, the first of which is scheduled for Jan. 9,
2011.
The first referendum will decide whether or not the south will secede
from the north. If the first is approved, the second vote will grant
residents of the oil-rich border region of Abyei the choice of joining
a newly independent south or remaining with the north.
Fears that the oil-rich southern portion of Sudan could seek to break
unilaterally from the north in an upcoming vote, sparking more
conflict in the war-torn nation, have been raised repeatedly at the
United Nations this week.
Encouraging the north and south to ‘work constructively'
Friday’s summit, according to US State Department spokesman Philip
Crowley, "is to encourage the north and south to work constructively
together. They have had interactions but it needs to be more
sustained."
His boss, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has been more blunt
about the possible tinderbox confronting the international community
in eastern Africa.
In an address to the Council of Foreign Relations earlier this month,
Clinton called the situation in Sudan a "a ticking time bomb of
enormous consequence", before adding, “The south is not quite capable
of summoning the resources to do [the referendum], and the north has
been preoccupied and is not inclined to do it, because it's pretty
clear what the outcome will be."
Most analysts believe the Jan. 9 vote will split the nation in two.
What is not clear is how Khartoum will respond to the vote and how, in
turn, the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the main
opposition group in the south, will react to Khartoum’s response.
Diplomats suspect Khartoum of dragging its feet on the Jan. 9 vote, an
issue Obama is set to address at Friday’s summit.
A day before the summit, Obama met with UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon, who is chairing Friday’s talks, at the UN's headquarters in
New York.
Besides Obama and Ban, the presidents of Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and
Uganda are among the African officials attending Friday's special
session, along with ministers of Brazil, Great Britain, Canada, Egypt,
France, Germany, India and Norway, among others.
Sudan will be represented by its vice president.
Vote preparations delayed
Certain provisions of the 2005 peace agreement have already been
implemented, as stated by the UN on its website. Southern Sudan now
has a constitution and a government, although its resources are
limited.
But preparations for the vote have been delayed. Voter registration
has not started and may now not be ready on time for a January vote,
according to diplomatic sources.
Other larger issues remain such as the demarcation of a north-south
border and the sharing of oil revenues. There are also fears of a
military build-up on both sides of the border, which UN peacekeepers
have not been able monitor since access to the border is still a
hurdle in some parts.
There are additional worries that the two sides could slide back into
war, as they did for two decades before the 2005 peace accord. Nearly
two million people were killed in the bloody civil war.
Identity and humanitarian issues at stake
There have also been concerns about identity and humanitarian issues.
Since the end of the war, tensions have remained high between the
predominantly Arab and Muslim north, and mostly Christian or animist
south.
According to a June report by the NGO Refugees International,
southerners living in the north, or vice versa, "may be plagued by
violence and loss of nationality, which would make them stateless."
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