referendum

The United Nations panel tasked with monitoring the long-awaited referendum on the future status of Southern Sudan continued visiting polling centres in the region today, the fifth day of the week-long exercise.

The independence referendum in South Sudan, which could split Africa’s largest country in two and produce the United Nations’ 193rd Member State, has got off to a good start with officials successfully handling a large initial turnout, the head of the UN monitoring panel has said.

As Southern Sudan gears up for a week-long independence referendum starting on Sunday that could split Africa’s largest country in two, the United Nations is ramping up its multiple roles, from monitoring the vote to providing aid to returning southerners to preparing options for a worst-case scenario, however unlikely, of renewed warfare.

The United Nations human rights chief today urged authorities in Sudan’s north and south to ensure that the upcoming referendum on the future status of the south is not marred in any way by abuses of voters’ rights.

With preparations for next week’s independence referendum in Southern Sudan in their final stages, the United Nations is seeking to ensure that every last voter in the more than four-million-strong electorate will have a ballot, no matter how remote and inaccessible the location.

The head of the United Nations panel tasked with monitoring next month’s landmark referendum on the self-determination of Southern Sudan said today that his team believed that the vote will take place as planned despite remaining challenges, including limited resources and the need to raise awareness among voters.

With less than three weeks before the holding of the referendum on the status of Southern Sudan, the head of the United Nations panel tasked with monitoring the vote today urged all parties to ensure the credibility of the process.

Few people from Southern Sudan who live in the north are turning out to enrol as voters for the referenda on the future of the south, the chairperson of the United Nations-appointed panel monitoring the process said today, citing various reasons for the dismal turnout, including lack of awareness and uncertainty.

Members of the United Nations panel tasked with monitoring the referenda on self-determination in Sudan today visited central area of Abyei, where they met with the area’s chief administrator, other local officials and community chiefs.

The Security Council today urged parties to the 2005 peace pact that ended the country’s long-running civil war to take urgent action to ensure the holding of peaceful and credible referenda on self-determination in less than two months’ time.