On January 17, a ministerial meeting between northern and southern representatives took place in Kadugli to formalize resolutions to security issues initially discussed by Misseriya and Dinka Ngok leaders on January 13. Southern Interior Minister Giir and Abyei Chief Administrator Deng Arop represented the south, while the north was represented by Interior Minister Hamed and Governor of Southern Kordofan, Ahmed Haroun. The following points were agreed upon in the meeting: 1) The SPLA must remove its police from the northern Abyei area. They will be replaced by two JIUs from Wau.
A convoy of buses and trailers carrying returnees traveling south to vote in the referendum was reportedly ambushed by Misseriya tribesmen in the village of Siteib, roughly 80km north west of Abyei, on the north side of the north-south border, between Aweil in Northern Bahr el Ghazal State and Dabak in Southern Kordofan State. Reports indicated that 10 people were killed, 18 wounded. The original number of vehicles in the convoy remains unconfirmed, though 22 buses and the known survivors were reportedly taken to Dilling in South Kordofan State.
KAKUMA, Kenya– With their country at war far more often than at peace in the 54 years since independence, Sudan’s people have often been on the move in search of security. For the southerners living in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, this week’s referendum on independence represents the best chance for returning to their homeland, and they are turning out in droves.
Of the 8,000 to 9,000 southerners living in Kakuma, the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission registered 5,525 voters.
By Mayank Bubna Enough Project Field Researcher, Juba
BENTIU, Southern Sudan – Southerners talking about why they want independence from the North in the historic referendum often lace their statements with illusions to bondage, religious repression, and racism. So it’s easy to see the South’s expected vote for separation as a wholesale rejection of the North. But in day-to-day life in southern Sudan’s Unity state capital, northerners and southerners work alongside each other and share common values and mutual respect.
By Enough Project Team on Monday, December 13, 2010
At the Dr. John Garang Mausoleum in the heart of Juba, under a baking morning sun, two dozen or so men wait patiently in line to be registered to vote. A separate line for women lies woefully empty.
With anticipation for the January 9 referendum on South Sudan building, Enough visited Kakuma camp in northwestern Kenya, home to 22,000 Sudanese refugees. Training of civic educators and polling station staff was in high gear, and word was spreading around the camp about the upcoming vote.
Kakuma first opened in 1992 to accommodate Sudanese fleeing civil war between North and South; some of the people we spoke to have lived there since then.
Five years after facilitating the signing of a peace agreement between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement, or SPLM/A, the U.S. government is once again engaging with the two Sudanese parties to prevent renewed conflict in Sudan. As part of Enough’s ongoing desire to present multiple perspectives on peace in Sudan, former State Department official Jeff Millington offers a retrospective look at the strategy pursued by the U.S. government from the late 1990s to 2005 that produced the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
As South Sudan’s referendum kicks into gear and Abyei’s does not, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states’ popular consultations – another important component of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement – are slowly moving forward.
At the Dr. John Garang Mausoleum in the heart of Juba, under a baking morning sun, two dozen or so men wait patiently in line to be registered to vote. A separate line for women lies woefully empty.
As South Sudan’s referendum kicks into gear and Abyei’s does not, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states’ popular consultations – another important component of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement – are slowly moving forward.
