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Sudan Referendum Commission Chairman Seeks Successful Vote Despite Delays

   Peter Clottey 24 August 2010
   Sudanese  President  Omar  al-Beshir (R) walks with Sudan's First Vice
   President  and  south  Sudan  leader  Salva  Kiir  at  the  airport in
   Khartoum, as he prepares to leave for Chad, 21 Jul 2010

Photo: AFP

   Sudanese  President  Omar  al-Beshir (R) walks with Sudan's First Vice
   President  and  south  Sudan  leader  Salva  Kiir  at  the  airport in
   Khartoum, as he prepares to leave for Chad, 21 Jul 2010

   The   chairman   of   Sudanās   Referendum  Commission  told  VOA  his
   organization  is  working to ensure the scheduled 9^th January vote is
   successful,  despite  sharp  disagreements  that have led to delays in
   some of the activities of the commission.

   Mohamed  Ibrahim  Khalil  said  the  referendum commission has invited
   several  international  poll  observer  groups from the African Union,
   European Union and United Nations to monitor the referendum in Sudanās
   semi-autonomous south.

   āAs  a  matter  of  fact,  everything  that  can  be  done without the
   secretariat  has  been  done  since  we have appointed the Juba (south
   Sudanās  capital)  Bureau,  which  is  the main executive organ of the
   commission  in Juba in the south. In the meantime, work is going on in
   the preparation of the budget and in the signing of the protocols with
   a  number  of  international  organizations,  USAID  (U.S.  Agency for
   International Development), U.N. and the E.U.,ā he said.

   The  scheduled  January  referendum,  which  forms  part  of  the 2005
   Comprehensive  Peace  Agreement, will enable residents in the south to
   decide  whether  to  secede and become an independent nation or remain
   part of Sudan.

   Analysts  say  sharp disagreements over the secretary general position
   of  the  referendum  commission between the dominant National Congress
   Party (NCP) and the Sudan Peopleās Liberation Movement (SPLM) have led
   to frequent delays in the preparations ahead of the vote.

   Chairman  Khalil  denied  that the SPLM has agreed to allow the NCP to
   name the secretary general of the referendum commission.

   āThatās  not  true.  As far as Iām concerned, neither the SPLM nor the
   NCP names the secretary general. All this is just confusion. This is a
   purely  technical matter neither party has got anything to do with it.
   I  have  made  a  survey of a number of people eligible for the post,ā
   Khalil said.

   He  attributed  the  delay  in  naming  the  secretary  general of the
   referendum commission to what he described as the SPLMās parochial and
   a confrontational stance.

   Officials  of the SPLM have insisted that the secretary general should
   come  from  the  semi-autonomous  south  after  President  Omar Hassan
   al-Bashir named Khalil as chairman of the referendum commission.

   Khalil  told  VOA  the  commission  is making adequate preparations to
   ensure a credible vote.

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