SOUTH SUDAN has voted overwhelmingly to secede from the north according to official results released yesterday, opening the way for the world’s newest country to declare independence.
A total of 98.83 per cent of voters from Sudan’s south chose to split Africa’s largest country in two during last month’s referendum, the south Sudan Referendum Commission announced at a ceremony in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Only 44,000 voters of the 3.8 million who voted chose to maintain the status quo.
“Today we received these results and we accept and welcome these results because they represent the will of the southern people,” President Omar al-Bashir said on state television before the announcement, adding he wanted to be one of the first people to congratulate south Sudan on its decision.
“South Sudan has chosen secession. But we are committed to the links between the north and the south; we are committed to good relations based on co-operation.”
After two decades of civil war between north and south Sudan, Mr Bashir’s conciliatory comments reflect a new pragmatism in Khartoum, say analysts. About 85 per cent of Sudan’s oil is concentrated in the south and could soon be out of Khartoum’s reach, while the US government has indicated it will seek the removal of an indictment against Mr Bashir by the International Criminal Court over war crimes in Darfur if the referendum result is respected.
The referendum was a key part of a 2005 deal between north and south Sudan that brought to an end the second civil war of Sudan’s post-independence period.
Although January’s vote was largely peaceful, violence has recently broken out in the volatile north-south border region.
At least 55 people, including several civilians and children, were killed over the weekend when soldiers clashed.
Violence broke out on Thursday in the town of Malakal when southern soldiers serving in the Sudanese Armed Forces’ Joint Integrated Units (JIU) refused to turn in their weapons and redeploy to the north.
The JIUs were created under the 2005 peace deal and are made up of soldiers of the northern Sudanese Armed Forces and the southern Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army.
Their aim was to fill any security vacuum in the interim between the signing of the 2005 peace deal and last month’s referendum. However, their role is becoming redundant now that the south is moving towards independence and facing challenges of its own. One of the biggest, according to aid agencies, will be managing the massive influx of returnees to Africa’s newest state.
Between 850,000 and 1.5 million people might flock back to south Sudan after moving north during the years of civil war, according to the children’s NGO Plan International, causing dire shortages of food, shelter, water, health care and sanitation. There are also fears that 2.7 million people could suffer food shortages.
“More schools, health services and food are needed for the returnees,” said Gezahegn Kebede, regional director for Plan International. “People are already starting to feel the pinch, as the social services are failing to cope with the influx.”