From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Tue Dec 22 2009 - 12:53:26 EST
Sudan passes bill for southern independence vote
Tue Dec 22, 2009 4:37pm GMT
* Southern members boycott session
* Secession would lose North its control of oil-rich south
(Adds background, detail, Southern politician's reaction)
By Khaled Abdel Aziz
KHARTOUM, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Sudan's parliament on Tuesday passed a
long-awaited bill setting out the conditions in which a January 2011
referendum on independence for the country's oil-producing south would be
considered to be valid.
According to the bill, 60 percent of the southern Sudanese electorate will
have to turn out to make the referendum legitimate. South Sudan will split
away from the north if more than half of voters choose independence.
But of the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) walked
out before the vote, criticising one of the bill's articles that allowed
South Sudanese living in the north to register and vote.
Analysts warn the south could return to war if there is any sign Khartoum
will not go through with the vote and that would have a devastating impact
on the country, its oil industry and stability in the region.
"Finally, after a long journey, we approved this law," said parliamentary
speaker Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir who is a member of the National Congress
Party (NCP) which dominates the north.
After months of wrangling, leaders from the SPLM and NCP agreed on the
bill's terms in a series of late night meetings this month.
But distrust runs deep between north and south and many southern leaders,
who would prefer the vote take place only in the south, criticised the
legislation.
"What happened today was the biggest mistake that has happened since the
signing of the comprehensive peace agreement," senior SPLM official Yasir
Arman said.
"How can the parliament approve the law for the referendum for South Sudan
without the participation of representatives from South Sudan?" he added.
SECESSION VOTE
South Sudan secured the independence vote, due in January 2011, as part of a
2005 peace accord that ended two decades of civil war with the north that
killed 2 million people.
Many southerners, embittered by years of bloodshed, are thought to favour
independence. Leaders from the SPLM have been making increasingly separatist
public comments in recent months.
Secession would mean Khartoum would lose control of most of the country's
proven oil reserves, predominantly found in the south, though the landlocked
south is dependent on northern pipelines to carry its oil to Port Sudan on
the Red Sea.
Sudan's north and south are split over differences in ideology, ethnicity
and religion. North Sudan is mostly Muslim while southerners are largely
Christian and followers of traditional beliefs. (Writing by Andrew Heavens
in Khartoum and Alexander Dziadosz in Cairo; Editing by Jon Hemming)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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