But can the unity survive January’s secession referendum?
By Rebecca Hamilton (Oct. 20, 2010)
JUBA, Sudan—Spontaneous outbursts of singing, dancing, clapping, and cheering lasted through the night at the Nyakuron Cultural Centre in Southern Sudan’s capital, Juba, on Sunday. The celebration came at the conclusion of a conference initiated by Salva Kiir, the president of the semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, aimed at unifying the fractious southern political and military elite before an upcoming vote on self-determination.
The January 2011 referendum is the final step in the 2005 peace agreement that brought an end to more than two decades of war between the mainly Christian and animist south of the country and the mainly Muslim north. The referendum will allow southerners to choose between unity with northern Sudan or independent nationhood.
If, as seems likely, southerners opt for independence, many here believe that the viability of the new nation depends on the current southern ruling party, the Southern People’s Liberation Movement, convincing southern politicians and army commanders who have defected from the movement—either to fight for the north or to form their own southern opposition groups—that they have a future in the south. If that isn’t possible, the “divide-and-conquer” pattern established during the civil war, of the Sudanese government in Khartoum—currently led by President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party—arming southern factions to fight each other, may continue. The resulting destabilization could spiral beyond the fledgling southern government’s control. Read rest of the article as it appeared . . .
The January 2011 referendum is the final step in the 2005 peace agreement that brought an end to more than two decades of war between the mainly Christian and animist south of the country and the mainly Muslim north. The referendum will allow southerners to choose between unity with northern Sudan or independent nationhood.
If, as seems likely, southerners opt for independence, many here believe that the viability of the new nation depends on the current southern ruling party, the Southern People’s Liberation Movement, convincing southern politicians and army commanders who have defected from the movement—either to fight for the north or to form their own southern opposition groups—that they have a future in the south. If that isn’t possible, the “divide-and-conquer” pattern established during the civil war, of the Sudanese government in Khartoum—currently led by President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party—arming southern factions to fight each other, may continue. The resulting destabilization could spiral beyond the fledgling southern government’s control. Read rest of the article as it appeared . . .
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