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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Oct 14 2010 - 12:52:39 EDT
North, south Sudan disagree over Abyei vote
Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:55am GMT
* North sees delay in Abyei referendum
* South says this unacceptable and may hold own vote
(Adds southern reaction)
By Andrew heavens
KHARTOUM, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A referendum on the future of Sudan's
oil-producing Abyei region should be postponed, northern officials said on
Thursday, but the south dismissed the proposal as unacceptable.
Residents of the disputed region, which lies between north and south Sudan,
were promised a vote on whether to be in the north or south as part of a
2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war.
North and south Sudan have clashed in the area since the signing of the
peace deal. The Abyei vote is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2011, the same day as
southerners are due to vote on whether to stay part of Sudan or declare
independence.
Northern officials said Sudan had run out of time to hold the Abyei vote by
the Jan. 9 deadline and must delay it or find another way of settling the
issue.
"It is very clear that right now it is not possible to have the Abyei
referendum on 9 Jan., 2011. We all agree that this is no longer practical,"
Didiri Mohammad Ahmad, a senior member of Sudan's ruling National Congress
Party (NCP), told journalists.
"We agreed that in the next talks we will try to look for other
alternatives."
Sudan's minister of international cooperation, Jalal Yousuf Al-Digair, told
the same news conference that the government would be open to a proposal to
delay the referendum by a few months.
Abyei's administrator said its residents would not accept a delay and may
hold their own vote without the government.
"A delayed vote is unacceptable. The people of Abyei are still holding out
for the referendum to be held on Jan. 9. If the government does not give
them that option we can have a self-run referendum," said Deng Arop Kuol, a
member of south Sudan's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
North and south Sudan's main political parties, who both claim Abyei, remain
at loggerheads over how to organise the vote and analysts have warned that
growing tensions over the plebiscite could re-ignite conflict.
The latest round of negotiations on Abyei between the parties, attended by
U.S. Sudan envoy Scott Gration, ended in Addis Ababa on Tuesday without
agreement. (Editing by Giles Elgood)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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