From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Oct 31 2009 - 17:36:03 EST
S. Sudan president makes first call for independence
Sat Oct 31, 2009 6:52pm GMT
* Southern president urges vote for independence
* Political tensions rising across Sudan
(Adds U.N. official, background)
JUBA, Sudan, Oct 31 (Reuters) - South Sudan's president on Saturday urged
southerners to vote for independence in a referendum if they wanted to be
free, the closest he has come to calling publicly for the separation of the
oil-producing region.
The south secured a vote on whether to break away from Sudan as part of a
peace deal that ended more than two decades of war with the north. But until
now, southern President Salva Kiir has stuck to the official line of
building support for unity.
"When you reach your ballot boxes the choice is yours: you want to vote for
unity so that you become a second class in your own country, that is your
choice," he told a congregation in a cathedral in the capital Juba during a
service to launch a prayer campaign for elections in 2010 and a referendum
in 2011.
"If you want to vote for independence so that you are a free person in your
independent state, that will be your own choice and we will respect the
choice of the people."
The comments will add pressure to the already troubled relationship between
Kiir's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the north's dominant
National Congress Party (NCP).
Both sides promised to build up a campaign to make the unity of Sudan
attractive to voters when they signed the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement
that settled the civil war.
Most southerners, embittered by the long war and the lack of development in
the south since it ended, are widely thought to support independence. But
their leaders have so far not gone as far as openly saying they want to
split.
The bulk of Sudan's proven oil reserves are in the south, while refineries
and Sudan's only port are in the north.
No one from the NCP was immediately available to comment.
TENSIONS RISING
Political tensions are rising in Sudan ahead of the first multi-party
election in more than 20 years, promised under the peace deal and are due to
take place in April 2010.
Voter registration was due to start on Sunday.
The United Nations said it was preparing to make Sudan's biggest delivery of
election materials to help in the exercise.
"There may be some difficulties moving materials to very remote locations,"
said one U.N. official.
Kiir spoke out as the U.S. envoy to Sudan Scott Gration flew into Juba at
the start of two days of talks with the southern leadership.
Gration has been holding meetings with northern and southern leaders, urging
them to resolve sticking points in the peace deal including the details of
the referendum, the constituencies for the election and the position of the
north/south border.
Sudanese officials said he was due to visit Khartoum on Monday and Tuesday.
U.S. President Barack Obama launched a new carrot-and-stick policy this
month aimed at ending violence in Sudan's Darfur region and the
semi-autonomous south.
Two million people were killed and 4 million fled their homes between 1983
and 2005 as Sudan's north and south battled over differences of ideology,
ethnicity and religion. North Sudan is mostly Muslim while southerners are
largely Christian and followers of traditional beliefs.
(Reporting by Jose Vieira, additional reporting by Skye Wheeler, writing by
Andrew Heavens; Editing by Diana Abdallah)
C Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved
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