US envoy in Sudan amid referendum discord

(AFP) – 1 day ago

KHARTOUM — US envoy to Sudan Scott Gration arrived on Wednesday for talks as disagreements within a commission tasked with organising a southern independence referendum threatened to delay the January vote.

A diplomat in the Sudanese capital said Gration’s visit was expected to last for several days.

His trip comes as the commission responsible for organising the vote is deadlocked over the appointment of a secretary general to start work on technical and administrative regulations for referendum.

The US State Department said before Gration’s visit there were “concerns” over the schedule of the vote, a key part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended a two-decade-long civil war between north and south.

“There?s obviously concerns,” said spokesman Mark Toner. “We?re working with key stakeholders to address those concerns,” he said, according a transcript on the State Department’s website.

“We believe that keeping the referenda on track is part of building a lasting peace and our ultimate goal is, obviously, full implementation of the CPA. So we don?t want to see any delays.”

The commission, formed in June, has still not begun the laborious process of voter registration which is expected to take several weeks at least.

Other outstanding issues ahead of the referendum include the demarcation of north-south borders, with Khartoum and the southern capital Juba still at loggerheads over five distinct sites along the tentative border.

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Voices for Sudan is a U.S.-based coalition of a diverse network of Sudan-led organizations in the Diaspora dedicated to resolving the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. VFS envisions a modern Sudan at peace with itself and its neighbors, where human rights are protected by the government and where sustainable economic development can flourish. More>>

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