INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS have declared south Sudan’s independence referendum as free and fair, adding that a vote for secession is now “virtually certain”.
“The referendum process to date is broadly consistent with international standards for democratic elections and represents the genuine expression of the will of the electorate,” the Atlanta-based Carter Center said in a statement.
“With the exception of a few isolated incidents, polling was conducted in a peaceful and orderly environment.” Based on early reports, it appeared “virtually certain that the results will be in favour of separation,” Carter Center observer and former Tanzanian prime minister Joseph Warioba told reporters in Khartoum.
Voting in the week-long referendum ended on January 15th, with turnout significantly in excess of the 60 per cent required to validate the vote, according to the EU observer mission in the country.
The referendum was a key part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended a 22-year long civil war between north and south Sudan. Preliminary results are expected by the end of this month, with south Sudan expected to become an independent country on July 9th.
However, negotiations must still be held with both sides on a range of issues, including the sharing of $38 billion (€28.5 billion) in foreign debt, the future status of the disputed border region of Abyei and how oil revenues will be split.
Almost 80 per cent of Sudan’s oil is in the south, but the task of building a new nation in a country where a girl has more chance of dying in childbirth than finishing primary school was again highlighted yesterday in a new joint report on food security published by the United Nations.
Although crop production in the country was 30 per cent higher than in 2009, south Sudan would need 340,000 tonnes of commercial imports and food assistance to feed the population, said the based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Food Programme.
According to the agencies, more than 120,000 southerners have returned to south Sudan since October and up to 250,000 are expected to have arrived by early February.
The number of people receiving emergency food aid would rise to 1.4 million during the lean season between March until August, the agencies said, from 890,000 today in a population of 8.2 million.