People of Southern Sudan on Sunday began voting in the referendum where they have to choose whether to remain part of the bigger Sudan or to become an independent country.
An estimated three million voters are casting their ballots in Southern Sudan and neighbouring Kenya and Uganda, the two Sudan neighbours that host the biggest amount of Sudanese refugees.
Salvar Kirr South Sudan president
South Sudan President Gen. Salvar Kirr voted early on Sunday at the John Garang Memorial Center and vowed that the South was headed for a historic decision of self determination. Gen Kirr who heads the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) that governs the South and is the Vice President of the bigger Sudan.
Despite earlier fears that the north will violently oppose plans by the south to secede, Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir said recently that the south part had a right to choose to secede and that the referendum was helpful because unity “could not be forced by power.”
The referendum is part of the 2005 Naivasha Agreement between the Khartoum central government and SPLM. The two had for long engaged in a bloody war.
A simultaneous referendum was supposed be held in Abyei on whether to become part of Southern Sudan but it was postponed due to conflict over demarcation and residency rights.
Polling will last for six days till 15th of January and the results will be announced two weeks after. But while the official results will be expected at the end of January, almost everyone knows the results of the Sudan Referendum as the mostly Christian southerners have long longed for independence from the Arab Muslim north.
In Uganda voting is taking place at polling stations in Arua, Adjumani, Kiryandongo and Kampala. Elizabeth Ramego, the in charge of voting at Kisenyi in Kampala said people started trekking to the polling centre as early as seven am to cast their votes in this independence plebiscite. She says over 3,000 voters are expected to cast their ballots at the Uganda polling station in the weeklong event.
One of the people who turned up early was Rev. John Males of the Sudan Support Organisation. He expressed happiness at the opportunity to vote in the referendum which will determine the future of Southern Sudan. He says many Southern Sudanese are voting for independence in order to get rights of self determination from the north which has been imposing Islamic ideals on the south.
Many people in Uganda and other neighbouring countries are closely watching the referendum and although the results are almost known, many are hoping the results can be confirmed as soon as possible.
Southern Sudan is a major trade market for Uganda, Kenya and other neighbours and independence is expected to bring about more robust economic activities that the East African community countries are expecting to take full advantage of.
Sudan’s stability is also a key interest for the region’s security as many rebels like the Lords Resistance Army have for long operated from Sudan.
Not even early reports of clashes today in Sudanese oil rich Abyei region seem to affect the fact that Sudan, Africa’s biggest country is on the verge of getting split into two countries with the black South and Northern Arabs partying ways in what many have always said was a long overdue decision. Bashir has said if the South votes for independence, the North of Sudan will be governed under strict Sharia law.