Southern Sudanese Independence Referendum, 2011 - Controversies

Controversies

Authorities in both the north and south of Sudan have been accused of harassment and intimidation against the media in order to avoid dissenting coverage. Rights groups warned the media could be slapped with further restrictions.

The Youth and Sports Minister, Haj Majid Suwar, of the National Congress Party (NCP) suggested the government "may not recognise the results" and would "talk to ... the USA and the UN and the AU and say that the Sudan People's Liberation Movement didn't fulfill the CPA Comprehensive Peace Agreement" by allowing open campaigning and the withdrawal of their soldiers from southern areas. He also said that the potential borders between them would have to be drawn up pending redeployment of the SPLM's forces to the 1956 border.

Salva Kiir, the president of the southern region and the first vice president of Sudan, said that the referendum's timing was important as there was "a risk of a return to war in case of delay or denial of this exercise, and it would be on a very massive scale." Kuol Deim Kuol, the spokesman for the SPLM's military, accused the NCP of "just looking for a pretext of starting war" and called Suwar a "war monger."

Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accused the SPLM of breaching the terms of the peace deal, and warned of a return to conflict if the disputes were not settled before the referendum. Despite that, he said he was committed to holding the referendum, but insisted on settling differences over the shared border and how to share oil, debt and Nile river water.

The NCP accused the SPLM of discouraging southerners who were living in the north of the country from registering, as the SPLM threatened not to recognise the referendum if its demands were not met. Southerners in the North were reluctant to vote because of fears of being uprooted from their homes. Muslims in the border provinces of the South also expressed fear of a campaign of violence that could be unleashed as a consequence of the referendum. Many feared a return to civil war, should the referendum fail because of the increasingly heated rhetoric. Along with Chad, Sudan sought to secure the border area ahead of the referendum.

In addition to warnings of civil war, it was also read that a possible civil war could involve the Lord's Resistance Army and bring Uganda into the conflict.

Despite rifts amongst Southern parties, more than 20 parties ironed over their differences to put a show of unity before the referendum. Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal also said the referendum could "reignite violence...rather than bring peace," while he said the vote must be "fair and free."

The United States extended sanction against Sudan on 1 November 2010 in order to pressure the government to stick to the referendum deadline. The US then offered to drop Sudan from an US list of state-sponsors of terrorism if the two referenda were held on time and the results were respected. They again partook in statement before the referendum in lauding al-Bashir's statement to respect the vote.

Following concerns from the UN about delays, representatives of both regions affirmed a commitment to hold the referendum on time; a media campaign was also launched to raise awareness and increase the turnout.

Minni Minnawi, the only Sudan Liberation Army faction signatory to the Darfur Peace Agreement, quit the agreement and resigned his post as Special Advisor to the President, saying the deal had failed. He consequently moved to Juba in the south saying the referendum would be successful as southerners "reject the policy of this government" and the north would then be a "failed state." In return the government declared Minnawi an "enemy" and closed his Khartoum office.

In December 2010, the Constitutional Court agreed to carry out an investigation into a petition filed by local lawyers seeking the dissolution of the electoral body that was organising the referendum.

Despite calls from the government in southern Sudan that northerners living in the south should be protected, some northerners who were uncertain of their future in an independent state started heading north.