The January 09 vote – which is widely expected to lead to independence for South Sudan – is the final phase of a 2005 peace agreement that ended two decades of war between the Arab-dominated north and Christian and animist south.
The council welcomed the conclusion of a peaceful registration process but in a statement it urged the north and south to urgently agree on other outstanding issues, especially a separate referendum to resolve the fate of the dispute oil-rich Abyei region on their border which is claimed by both sides.
The council meeting on Sudan was the last before the January 09 referendum, and members heard senior officials from the north and the south reiterate their commitments to a peaceful vote. The council also heard a briefing from UN peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy who outlined contingency plans “in the unlikely event that the referendum leaders to large-scale violence”.
If there is major violence, Le Roy said, “approximately 2.8 million people could be internally displaced and another 3.2 million people may be negatively affected by breakdowns in trade and social service delivery”.
“In this scenario, up to $63m may be required to provide emergency assistance to those in need,” he said.
Security dangers
Mutrif Siddiq, Sudan’s minister of state for humanitarian affairs, told reporters after the briefing that “we are not in agreement of that extreme scenario”.
Le Roy said the UN is seeking to increase the 14 700-strong peacekeeping mission in the south to prevent any deterioration in security after the referendum. But diplomats said the Sudanese government has not signed off on a request to deploy an additional 2 000 troops.
Siddiq said the government hasn’t held “detailed discussions on this issue” and stressed that even doubling the UN force would not be sufficient to curb serious violence.
“So it is not a matter of magnitude of the forces, but it is the will and co-operation of the parties to listen (to) any possible security dangers on the ground,” he said.
“For us, it has been sufficiently said by the two parties that there is no resort to war again,” Siddiq said, noting that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudan’s leader Salva Kiir have repeatedly stated their commitment to peace.
Pagan Amum, the secretary-general of the south’s ruling party, said all signs continue to point to a vote in favour of independence and he welcomed recent statements by al-Bashir that his ruling National Congress Party “is committed to accept the results of the referendum”.
“We remain committed to a peaceful, stable and prosperous future for the people of Sudan whether as one country or as two separate states,” he told the council.
Another option
Both Siddiq and Amum said they have been trying to reach agreement on a referendum on Abyei but serious differences remain on who should be eligible to vote.
Siddiq said hopefully an agreement could be reached that is acceptable to the tribes on the ground and to the two parties for a referendum, “maybe after” the January 09 vote on the future of South Sudan.
Amum said if there is no agreement on a referendum, another option would be to transfer Abyei to the south by Sudanese presidential decree “the same way in which Abyei was transferred in 1905 by an administrative order”.
In South Sudan’s capital, Juba, UN spokesperson Kouider Zerrouk said on Thursday that a joint committee from the north, south and the UN concluded that three bomb attacks in the south this month, made by aircraft from the northern Sudanese military, were “unfortunate and should not be repeated”.
Le Roy said the attacks, near the Darfur border, were allegedly directed against Darfur’s rebel Justice and Equality Movement. He urged both governments “to exercise restraint and prevent the situation from escalating”.
Meanwhile, the UN human rights chief Navi Pillay told The Associated Press on Thursday that Sudan’s government is blocking visas for “almost 1 000” human rights and aid workers who need to be in place before January 09 to prepare for possible unrest.
“It just seems deliberate, this holdup on visas,” she said.
Le Roy told the council that the UN peacekeeping mission is also waiting for the government to approve visas for 348 UN personnel.
“We urge the government to clear the pending visa applications without delay,” he said.
Source: news24