“I am not scared about you to lead, I am alarmed by your greed” – Said, Southern Sudanese poet in his poem - entitled “Sudan is My Country” (Name Unknown).

            By, Gabriel Makuei Tor

The call for the Sudanese unity by Khartoum is the dirty truth, one need not to sacrifice for it. Unity of the Country is good anywhere in the world, but with who I am residing with – I don’t call for. The Sudanese Unity is lacking spirit of brotherhood, nationality, patriotism and mutual understanding but thronged with Jihads, Islamization, and Arabization – dogged by its kleptocratic behaviors, at gun point; is not the integrity which our comrades have been laid to rest for. This is a ground of no tolerance to any kingdom. The National Congress Party with its military wing - National Islamic Front; has made unity unattractive, and wanted to cling to the Sudanese power and wealth without sharing it amongst the Sudanese citizens. I have seen them having mouths to talk but no ears to lend.

Show me that article – which says all parties must support Unattractive Sudanese Unity and I will show you Hague’s criminal Lodge – ICC on the Desk. Stop crying for unity. Where were they; who cry for unity against Secession when the South burns for Over 50 years?

Is/was Sudan in unity? Definitely “Big No!!!”. The Sudanese government has fought the South for over half a century and Darfur for almost a decade now! Would you call that a united Country – in real sense, no unity exists but the possession of the name Sudan to all the Sudanese people and regions. Those who are calling for united Sudan must know there was nothing united before and that’s why the SPLM/A took up arms to defend and unite the Country. This idea have been put on ice and erased by the ruling NCP  by using Jihad and Sharia law as law of the Land against non-Muslims - So where is the union and the unionists who kept silence by then, when the South was butchered for decades with no call for a cease fire and now they call for unity. Did you see that comrade – “Living Witness?” Leaders were assassinated; children abducted for slavery, innocent citizens were thrown to jails and rest murdered mercilessly.

No prisoners of war were returned, or exchanged when SPLA released Khartoum’s POWs to the North.

When the Sudanese government agreed to sit around the negotiation table, with the Sudan People Liberation Movement - with it military wing - Sudan People Liberation Army, for a peace talk that took 3 years of dialogue in Kenyan cities of Machakos, Naivasha and Nairobi among others. Behind 2.5 million lives lost due to war and related causes, according to UN – which those with Sudanese civil war experiences on the ground; claimed to be at a greater rate than 2.5 millions.

A Sudanese government of NCP with broken records of aborting peace, wealth and power sharing treaties; between their opposition-South and Khartoum-North, since 1940’s - sat to dialogue with the SPLM/A knowing if they have signed more than several treaties in the past and has broken them, knows too, even the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) is just a break from long wars, but could be dishonored, at its 11^th hour.

      NCP - Dispatching Misseriya Tribes against the Nine Ngok Dinka Tribes.

Even if there seemed to be a way forward; the NCP do comes in to twist the original stories. The recent report from Addis Ababa about the Misseriya Tribes claiming Abyei at this late hour and they had never been part of the Dinka Ngok, either religiously, natively and traditionally. What is the connection today? They have threatened to wage war against Abyei and the South, if they are not allowed to vote in Abyei Referendum or share power and wealth equally with the Ngok Dinka as said by El Bashir’s government and party (NCP) to SPLM few weeks ago as pros. These claims were not revealed during 2002 to 2005 peace talk in Kenya – until everything came to conclusion on Abyei only. Behind these claims by Misseriya Tribes. Is Khartoum government with intention to thwart or ruin Referenda for the South and Abyei regions, Popular Consultation to Blue Nile and Kordofan States. These fake grievances must stop now. The NCP’s weir is not going to catch anybody and the South shall wades through - tall and free.

           Sudanese Disintegration today is Sudanese Integration tomorrow.

If South Sudan agree for the unity of the Country Sudan – she will be the first army to burn remnant villages of Darfur to ashes; Because the NCP will use its forces to destroy the little left of Darfur before Khartoum disarm them and you know the rest ……. To save the remnant few – make your vote of separation count and get your voice heard, forever peaceful Sudan.

Remember to respect your registration to vote for Referenda – anywhere in the world when it begins; where legible.

The NCP should know that – the SPLM/SPLA’s Flag; is a Flag of a Nation, which is not going anywhere! Khartoum must accept that a Nation is born for us to leave Separate than dying together.

The Southern Sudanese People can afford anything and anybody, but what they could not afford are 50 more years of Bashir’s cheat notes and generation in the bush.

            By, Gabriel Makuei Tor

Author is reachable at – This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

South Sudan Referendum is a reality by law. Orchestration of its destruction by anyone or party is unlawful and must be pushed.

While watching the Heads or representatives of world States’ 4 hours video (High Level Meeting on Sudan) on www.UNmultimedia.org - on the night of September 24^th, 2010. On that same night – I was convinced that the world is united behind Southern Sudan’s painful voices of concern for Referendum make possible through fair and free preparations and votes; in regards to people’s will. Besides, the Abyei, Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains, and Darfur’s crisis concerns inside Sudan. All world leaders who met in Manhattan New York,  were fully informed and understood decades of suffering endured by the Sudanese people and most importantly by Southern Sudanese – the representatives came to believe that, the Referendum with its issues; must be conducted as agreed and signed by the two governments of North and South – Sudan.

Even in this High Level Meeting: There were good and bad news for the world to take along their rocky path on Sudan problems. The bad news came with two Sudanese neighbors: Idris Debby of Chad asked question, do you think is Sudan going to be more peaceful when divided into South and South? His question was disregarding the call for Referendum timely schedule to be respected and proper credibility of its being run peacefully with accuracy on people’s will. The second man was the Ethiopian Meles Zenawi, who said, let me assure you (delegates) that Referendum will not happen on time nor conducted because of issues interconnected with separation (vote of independence); counting the oil and border demarcation items among many others attached. His point of concern was no enough time to deal with the claims dogging South Sudan Referendum votes on January 9^th, 2011. Why no time now? What was the government doing during the last – almost 6 years of interim period?  Conspiracy is not a passport to unity here. Let Zenawi be assured.

 No one knows what Khartoum have said or paid to these two men, but Heaven knows!!

 You wonder what happened to Debby and Zenawi – if the call of help is heard as far as Brazil in South America, North America, the European Countries, other African Countries and Asian Continent’s representatives who talked respectfully, in support of the Sudanese people and governments for Referenda, and popular consultations be done as scheduled almost 6 years ago now.

The other bad news was the Sudanese 2^nd vice president; Taha’s 2 delegates (North) were thrown into jail for inappropriate behaviors - caught by New York police violating code of conducts, around Manhattan’s Hilton Hotel during an entry or exiting the place – the 2 delegates were later on released after the prove of their legibility to attend the meeting was found. Luckily, the 1^st Sudanese vice president, Salva Kiir Mayardit’s delegates (South) whose his people are rumored to be incapable of ruling themselves, were found free of such violent argument or inappropriate acts accusation. Victory in another way around!

Is Ali Ahmed Karti a Time Bell?                                                       

Karti is running against red light with his own NCP wishes and proposals. In his interview, with Ali Salih of Asharq Alawsat – 09-23-2010 (Arabic Newspaper). “You signed the CPA, the CPA prefers Unity”, Karti said to the interviewer meaning the USA and SPLM on peace agreement. I can’t tell if Sudanese foreign minister, Karti got it right about the CPA articles he refers to. The article in its real contact mean that the people of South Sudan would opt - depending on their combined experiences of 22 years of second civil war plus 6 years of interim period if the North is accommodative in its administrative rules and laws in relation to South Sudan’s people, and norms, which is not. The CPA has two options in it: Unity and Separation depending on the attractiveness of one. Making Unity attractive is when all articles or almost all of them were implemented or applied to work. And making unity unattractive is when what have been signed in Naivasha is disrespected or ignored – which put the South on the fastest lane to Secession if North is seen using unacceptable behavior/s as Obama stated. Is the NCP going to blame the South or SPLM for taking side between Unity and Separation when Referendum comes on 01-09-2011? No! Because you are the leader and decide to undermine the law, no one is going to abide by what you have broken – So you don’t call CPA a law anymore.

“There are some unacceptable behaviors in the 21^st century, like genocide”, said – by his Excellency US President; Barack Obama – 09-24-2010; in the “High Level Meeting on Sudan” in New York. Thanks God who ever initiated the meeting got a great idea of moving the world forward. This is true; the National Congress Party is shifting from calling South Sudanese abid –meaning slaves to niggers - according to recent comment, by the same Karti of NCP on the press in the capital, Khartoum. It’s a childish way of insulting a Nation and must stop.

Karti’s bigotry-accusation to SPLM – saying that SPLM is using a terrorism tactics to avoid Unity campaign is a lie. If there are people terrorized, arrested or killed by Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM), why not mention their names and the locality of their residency or presence; if this is not unhappiness of those Khartoum have paid and sent to the South to destabilize the region and return to Khartoum without succeeding in their mission because SPLM did not give them any ground of incubation.

This same Ali Karti have called the International Community’s support-call, for South Sudan Referendum dateline and people’s will to vote on January next year, an  “ill-intention to divide Sudan”. So is sending militias and government forces to kill Southerners and Darfurians a prosperous intention? Again the 3 billion dollars plan to develop the South/been developing the South is not a true statement – that was talked about this year (2010) just to turn the referendum scheme around for an empty unity of the Country – which has never been seen during the last five years of unity government.

Darfur is still burning to ashes – Sudan government is doing it!!

Referendum and Popular consultations are Refuge to the South and Abyei, Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains Regions. So they must be honored to be conducted according to the law, in which they were brought into book. The violations done and violations on the schedule to be done against Referendum success, are a bloody face all authorities of concern, must face without turning to the side.

By GMT

           My Identity is my Own and it is not Up for Debate, by Nam Kiwanuka.

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Living in Disintegration Unofficially, But Want to Make it Official.

The Sudanese people are and have been living in disunity illegally - though they all own the name Sudan together and live under this names (Sudan and Sudanese), since creation of boundaries. The Sudanese mass are not who they think they are … You may say why?  - And I would add because: The few Sudanese tribes in the North of the Country are ruling the Country kleptocratically and dictatorially, on one rule in regard to one race and one religion (Islam and Arab as claimed) – living out more than 30 millions other Sudanese people with Christianity, or Islam-friendly-approach and other traditional gods or believes; in more than 100 tribes from all directions in Sudan - who did not claim Arabization and Islamization to dominate the Country’s wealth, power and modernization. Keeping pure water, lights and tall buildings in few cities, in Northern Sudan. This is disunity and it means war on its own status.

 The Southern Sudanese patriots on their quest home must make the illegal legal – meaning; making illicit disintegration legal. The Disunity which has been played illegally against other African-Sudanese-tribes for years by the Sudanese government is coming to an end on January 9^th, 2011 – through Referendum for the Secession of the Southern Region. South Sudan has suffered the consequences since the two civil wars were fought in the South by the Sudanese government against local tribes there – just to tell you about the olden part of the story, while I remember the Darfur today and the Abyei, the Nuba mountains and the Blue Nile of all times. Not forgetting the proxy war by the same Khartoum government against Southern Sudan stability and the ability to rule herself currently.

Do you think is Sudan in unity, even you who have been paid to eat and talk unity or disintegration? Those who have been paid or nudge to do their dirty policy are not even in unity with their nativities. Leave alone what they preach for their own mass conviction targeting unity as the right choice of the Country. The Sudanese people have been living in this faked unity for years but that was a peril. The Southern Sudanese have always chosen unity against disintegration, but always found themselves fighting wars they are forced to fight. Fighting for referendum is the right choice for the South to make. And yes! Don’t quote me wrong here – to fight does not mean gun, or gun alone.

One of our most Southern Sudanese patriotic artists in the South, Panchol Deng Ajang says:”you will repay what you have eaten illegally, the self claimed Arab will not get to own our home (South Sudan), the land is not divided for you to sell your part of the land, we are fighting for all for our general freedom”. This was said disregarding those few-food-hired-geese by the Sudanese government to work hard to distort the Country for the other few to be prosperous in their dirty lives and businesses, while other majority-millions in the Country suffer while growing poor. That same Northern government which is paying Khartoum collaborators will ask them soon to repay their money when South win the independence quest; on the Referendum day – they will return their paychecks which they have received for days, months, years, or decades – there will be no exception, these fellows must worry for their own lives, not unity. Bashir will get them caught and lockup – if lucky not to be murdered. The idea of keeping South in the dark is going to fail in 3 months time.

Separating or uniting Sudan has not been explained by Sudan government than saying unity is good for the Country; because the ruling party of NCP (National Congress Party) knows exactly what it does imply to cut Sudan into parts. Khartoum’s gratuitous blames and claims of: “South is not qualified to rule a village leave alone a Country” – “South will break up into more divisions – when allowed to separate” – these are unacceptable insults – which GOSS could not tolerate. Southern Sudan can rule herself like any other Country on earth. The South rules herself in the bush with almost no resources during the two civil wars successfully; so what make the ill-advised NCP to believe that the creation of a New Nation (South Sudan) is impossible.

The people of Southern Sudan do not need Unity but Peace and Separation. If unity helps, it could have help Darfur’s abuse, rape and massacre done directly and indirectly through destructive-proxy war by Sudan government. If there was a sense of unity in Sudan – the North could have not dishonored more than several accords of peace, power sharing, wealth sharing and self-determination between the North and the South made and aborted from 1940’s to 1990’s – 2000’s is not an exception.

On the North-South relations:“the SPLM/A would not allow itself to be dragged into war, but should it be forced to, he added; that this time, God would know that we are fighting a justified war and we would defeat anybody that would fight us” said, South Sudan President and Sudanese 1^st vice president (Unity Government) – May 16^th, 2010 – Martyrs’ Memorial Day.

 ~ Salva Kiir Mayar-dit.

 Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
     ~Leon J. Suenes.

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By Rebecca Hamilton, Washington Post

KHARTOUM, Sudan - A referendum on whether oil-rich southern Sudan breaks away to become Africa's newest nation is scheduled to take place in less than four months. But with negotiations between north and south stalled over border demarcation, and preparations for the vote lagging perilously behind, the likelihood of the referendum proceeding as planned appears slim. 

Analysts fear that any delay could trigger a return to the decades-long civil war that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2 million people, primarily southerners.

Sudan's Islamist government, headed by President Omar al-Bashir, appears reluctant to let go of oil fields that have helped it survive U.S. economic sanctions first imposed in the 1990s after Sudan was designated a state sponsor of terrorism. The loss of territory in resource-rich southern Sudan would have grave economic consequences for the north, analysts say.

According to Fouad Hikmat, the International Crisis Group's special adviser on Sudan, the government says the referendum cannot take place until agreements are reached on issues related to its economic future.

"If these negotiations fail for whatever reasons, the referendum will be in jeopardy," Hikmat said.

Earlier this month, the Obama administration boosted its efforts to mitigate the looming crisis, dispatching veteran diplomat Princeton Lyman to join U.S. special envoy Scott Gration in Sudan.

The U.S. government has long been committed to the right of self-determination for the predominantly animist and Christian population of southern Sudan.

In 2001, pushed by an advocacy coalition led by U.S. evangelical and African-American churches, former President George W. Bush made bringing peace to the region a foreign policy priority. His administration helped secure a 2005 peace agreement, which established a power-sharing government that was supposed to lead Sudan from dictatorship to democracy. After a six-year interim period of semi-autonomous-rule, the south was to vote in 2011 on whether to remain part of Sudan or secede.

But with international attention on a separate crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, and relations between north and south marked by mistrust, the benchmarks set out in the agreement fell behind schedule. In April, a national election that had been delayed twice, and that most opposition parties boycotted, handed Bashir -- who had been indicted by the International Criminal Court - an electoral victory.

The ruling National Congress Party now says the referendum cannot take place until the border has been demarcated. But members of an 18-person Technical Border Committee representing both sides have been unable to reach a final agreement on the boundary.

Battle over resources

Stretching from the Central African Republic in the west to Ethiopia in the east, the 1,200-mile border region between north and south is among the most resource-rich and ethnically diverse areas of Sudan. Predominantly Arab pastoralists from north of the border who journey southward each year to graze their livestock fear that demarcation will prevent their seasonal movement.  

The border committee has agreed on about 80 percent of the border, the Sudanese minister of cabinet affairs, Luka Biong, said in an interview in Khartoum. But the parties have reached an impasse regarding five areas where the majority of Sudan's oil wealth lies, he said.

One of the contested areas encompasses the Heglig oil fields outside the border town of Abyei, where tensions between resident southern Ngok Dinka farmers and northern Misserya pastoralists are particularly high.  

"Heglig belongs to the south. It is in Unity State," said Edward Lino, a Ngok Dinka and former administrator of the Abyei area.

Gen. Babo Nimer, brother of the paramount chief of the Misserya people, was equally adamant: "Heglig belongs to Kordofan, to the north. Full stop."

Oil exploration in Sudan began in the 1970s. According to a 2010 survey by BP, Sudan is the third-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, currently producing 490,000 barrels per day. The Sudanese minister of petroleum, Lual Deng, said that more than 80 percent of Sudan's current oil reserves lie in the south.

Under the peace accord, the parties agreed to split the proceeds from the oil fields until the 2011 referendum. According to figures published by the Sudanese government, oil revenue accounted for about $2.8 billion of its budget last year and an estimated 60 percent of this year's budget.

Deng, one of the few southerners with a ministerial position in the post-election government, said he fears that an immediate budget cut for the north would ignite a war. "In order to avoid conflict, we could look to a phase-out arrangement whereby you provide the north some [oil] until they get an alternative," he said.

The pipeline to export southern oil currently cuts through the north, and the south has not begun construction on a pipeline that would avoid that route. But an interim agreement could help both north and south, Deng said.

"We can have a win-win," he said.

Delay in vote preparations

On the logistical front, officials say that planning for the referendum is far behind schedule.

"We have not started," the referendum commission's head, Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, 85, said in his dilapidated law office in downtown Khartoum.

Khalil was appointed only in July because the north and south had been unable to agree on the composition of the commission. The secretary general of the commission, responsible for its budget, was appointed this month.

In the short time left before the referendum, the commission must organize voter registration across southern Sudan, a vast area desperately lacking in basic infrastructure. Khalil said that in addition to overseeing voter registration in south Sudan, his commission must ensure that voting centers are established in all areas where more than 20,000 southern Sudanese reside.

During the war years, those who could flee the fighting did. Many headed to the relative safety of northern Sudan. Others relocated to countries around the world, including more than 150,000 in the United States. The commission must ensure all of these people get the chance to vote.

Khalil said preparation for the vote does not fit in the remaining time frame. But rather than push for a delay, he said that for now at least, his role is to make it work.

Hamilton is a special correspondent in Sudan on a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

GAMBELLA, 13 September 2010 (IRIN) - Officials in Ethiopia's western Gambella Region have scored conflict and erratic rainfall a dead certainty this year, potentially affecting more than 150,000 people. Floods and disease outbreaks are likely too: rated four out of five (where five is certain).

Far from being a cause of gloom, however, aid workers in Gambella and Addis Ababa praise the regional government for its preparedness.

Gambella's Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan identifies key hazards and actions needed, including procuring supplies – from food rations to female condoms – and allocating responsibilities to state and non-governmental actors.

The region's 300,000 people need this preparedness. Gambella is one of four regions in Ethiopia officially designated as "developing". The low-lying region bordering Sudan is remote, politically charged and poor – even by low national standards.

Conflict from within and without

Gambella's conflict risk is heightened as its neighbour Southern Sudan approaches a January 2011 independence referendum. Associated internal instability and resource-related tensions in Sudan's South have already spilled over into Ethiopia.

In 2009, a large group of Sudanese Lou Nuer crossed into Ethiopia following clashes with another Sudanese group, the Murle. Although cousins of the Ethiopian Jikany Nuer, the better-armed Sudanese Lou Nuer drove thousands of Ethiopian Jikany Nuer off their land in Gambella. The regional government says some 38,000 Ethiopians are still displaced.

Apart from the problems imported from Sudan, recurrent internal clashes over land, natural resources or vendettas among and between local agro-pastoralist Nuer and mainly agrarian Anuak communities have, at least temporarily, displaced some 40,000 people.

In Wanke, a few hours' drive north of Gambella town [ http://ochaonline.un.org/OchaLinkClick.aspx?link=ocha&docId=1164074 ], inter-clan clashes among different sub-groups of the Ethiopian Nuer forced several thousand families from their homesteads in April. They are staying only a few kilometres away from their homes, and local leaders told IRIN that peace talks could succeed but government involvement in stabilizing the situation was limited. They are living with relatives and friends, have planted almost nothing to harvest and complain of eating wild foods that are not nutritious.

Community leaders told visiting aid workers that food, plastic sheeting, jerry cans and cooking equipment were their priority needs. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is working with NGOs to supply such non-food items in one of many ongoing small-scale relief operations in the region where only a handful of international agencies operate.

Political dynamics

At a political level, Gambella is described by a well-placed observer as in a state of "uneasy calm". Inter-community tensions in the region are exacerbated by their relationship to the national political dynamic. According to the 2007 census, the Nuer make up 46 percent of the region's population, more than double the 21 percent recorded for the Anuak. A significant slice of the remaining population is not indigenous to the area and known as "highlanders" – regardless of where they come from in Ethiopia. Tensions over access to political and economic influence have erupted before, as in late 2003 when government security forces cracked down after Anuak armed groups clashed with highlanders, leading to allegations of human rights abuses and arbitrary killings [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=47956 ].

These tensions, analysts say, could re-ignite. Most recently, the reappointment of the Anuak regional president and chairperson of the multi-ethnic ruling party in the region failed to address Nuer political aspirations, according to some observers. (For a full review of the complex history, see: http://www.iss.co.za/uploads/CPRDPAPERGAMBELLA.PDF.)

The possibility of Southern Sudan's January referendum provoking new conflict and instability across the border is regarded nervously. The area hosted over 200,000 Sudanese refugees displaced in the 1980s by the civil war. Many left soon after the Ethiopian regime of Mengistu Hailemariam, a supporter of the Southern Sudanese rebellion, which took advantage of the camps for recruitment and training, was overthrown in 1991. Only some 26,000 Sudanese refugees remain in Ethiopia, according to the UN Refugee Agency [ http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e483986 ].

Beyond the floods

While politics and conflict remain sources of risk, floods are of more pressing concern at present. Before the end of October, the Baro and three other rivers in the region will swell to their seasonal peak, fed by rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands and locally. Gambella floods year after year, but sometimes with positive results. Flood recession agriculture – planting in alluvial soils as the flood waters drain away – is a key production opportunity.

The floods, most recently in 2008 [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79945 ], cause deaths, displacement and loss of assets. Riverbank living, driven by dependence upon river water for their livelihoods, leaves much of Gambella's population highly vulnerable to flooding and hard to reach given poor roads, a sparsely distributed population and long distances.

In response to flood risk, as well as the consequences of limited agricultural opportunity and erratic rainfall, the regional government has begun to explore longer-term policy options. The concept of "villagization", whereby families would be grouped closer together on higher ground, with new clinics and schools nearby, is a key initiative. However, one aid worker said implementation would be "very difficult" and questioned the level of community buy-in.

Beyond local government planning, the vast areas of land in the region have attracted interest from potential investors. Companies with links to India and Saudi Arabia have launched commercial agricultural schemes, while oil and gas exploration has not yet yielded publicly declared finds.

Gambella will be facing multiple hazards for years to come. That seems a 5/5 certainty. But in acknowledging its threats, observers say the region has taken an important step towards managing them.

bp/eo/mw

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

Egyptian police killed a Sudanese man on Friday during an attempt to cross Egyptian-Israeli border in an illegal manner, as stated by security authorities. Authorities said a young man aged twenty six was hit by a bullet on the head and died instantly after police asked him through a loud speaker to stop.

The Government of Southern Sudan said it has reached a compromise with the Federal government over the remittance of oil revenues for the South in US Dollars. The Undersecretary in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in the Government of Southern Sudan, Salvatore Garang Mabiordit, said that Khartoum will now remit the oil revenues in hard currency instead of the Sudanese Pounds.

The Government of Southern Sudan has allocated 30 million Sudanese Pounds for repatriating southerners from Egypt and northern Sudan to enable them to participate in the upcoming 2011 referendum. Southern Sudan coordinator for repatriation, Kormach Chol Badong, told Radio Miraya that 25 millions SDG of the grant will be used for repatriating southerners from the north, and the remaining amount for repatriating refugees from Egypt.

The youths also appeal to counterparts to turn out in large numbers ahead of next years’ national referendum

By Josephat Siror

September 10, 2010 (Nairobi) -- Dozens of Sudanese youths assembled in Nairobi yesterday calling for their counterparts to support separation of Southern Sudan from the Muslim-dominated North. The Southerners group of youth also launched their referendum campaign in earnest in the capital city of Kenya where a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was reached in 2005.

While launching the diaspora campaign, a first in Kenya’s political scene, the Sudanese warned against success of ‘unity’ government, saying that it would spark another ‘eruption’ of bloodshed in the fragile Horn of Africa country.

The referendum launch comes amid mixed reactions over the referendum date set for 9th January next year and the raging debate on 'surprise' visit to Kenya by Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir during the Promulgation of the new constitution a forth night ago. Mr Bashir's visit to Kenya fired debate since he is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes that led fleeing of Sudanese nationals most of them seeking temporary stay in Kenya.

But yesterday as the diaspora youths launched the campaign, they appealed to the fellow Southerners to turn out in large numbers and vote for the separation. “We are appealing to our diaspora colleagues wherever they are to come in large numbers and demonstrate their rights by voting during the referendum,” said Luala Abraham, leader of the United South Sudanese youth for Referendum Campaign (USS).

He lamented over the mistreatment unleashed to Southerners by the Northerners, who are mostly supporting unified type of government. These people (leaders) in the North have continuously treated the Southerners in a hostile manner through Islamic Sharia law,” he said adding that the vast country of Sudan is not a Muslim state.

The country has been subject to war-related crimes following a disagreement between the Southerners and Northerners. But the youths waving ‘orange’ T-shirts said they would push on for the separation despite being out of their homeland. “Our launch today exhibits a series of campaigns ahead in Kenya. We will also visit our brothers and sisters in refugee camps in Kakuma and Dadaab,” said Luala.

The number of Sudan nationals has been rising in Kenya, most of them from the South where rebel groups have been fighting the fragile government until the signing of the Peace Agreement between National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in Kenya.

Josephat Siror, BSC, is a journalist who has worked in different mainstream media houses. He has been part of Humanitarian Crew during the surge of famine that hit the Horn of Africa in 2007 stretching through 2008, he has worked in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia and part of Gulf of Eden, and worked then as a media consultant with International Red Crescent and Red Cross (ICRC). His main tasks have been reporting on humanitarian, political and social issues.