UN says all is ready for Sudan referendum

On Sunday four million south Sudanese will be asked in a referendum to decide on their future, and the result is widely expected to be a vote for secession, and the creation of a new African nation.

It is a vote many said could never happen, but the UN organisers have won plaudits for making it possible, even if no-one is entirely sure how Khartoum will react to a secession result, having previously waged 25 years of civil war to keep the mainly animist and Christian south under the Muslim north’s control.

“The many sceptics who never thought that Southern Sudan would be ready to hold a referendum by next Sunday were proven wrong. Everyone involved in the referendum, from the voters and the foreign and domestic observers to the referendum centre officials and the police officers charged to provide security, should do their part to safeguard the integrity of the process,” said UN mission leader David Grassley.

The new nation could be born as early as July, when the six-year cooling off period contained in the US-sponsored 2005 peace deal ends. Juba is the probable capital of a nation with fertile soil and oil, and potentially a bright future.

With so much at stake, personalities like former US president Jimmy Carter and George Clooney have flown in to witness the historic vote.

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