In Sudan, Early Results Strongly Lean to Secession
by Josh Kron, The New York Times
16 January 2011
Counting ballots in Juba, Sudan, after a referendum on independence for the south concluded. (Roberto Schmidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)
JUBA, Sudan — Southern Sudanese election officials posted early results on Sunday indicating that perhaps more than 95 percent of voters in this regional capital voted to secede from Sudan.
Staff for the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission counted ballots in El Fasher, Northern Sudan. (Albert Gonzalez Farran/Unamid, via European Pressphoto Agency)
The referendum, held last week, was the capstone of decades of civil war in Sudan, which pitted Christian and animist rebels in the south against Arab rulers in northern Sudan. All indications show the weeklong referendum passing and the south forming its own country.
Over the course of the day on Sunday, results from other parts of Sudan, as well as from across the globe, were streaming in, all showing secession to be the overwhelming favorite. According to early results, southern Sudanese living in Europe who voted favored secession by about 97 percent, the BBC reported.
Vote tallying in Sudan started after polls closed at 6 p.m. Saturday, and carried on through the night, with officials often counting by lantern or flashlight.
While the results are the first concrete steps for the south to secede from the rest of Sudan and become its own country, the process will take time. The final vote tally is not scheduled to be announced until Feb. 14.
And true independence would not come before July 9, when an American-backed peace agreement between the north and the south expires. It was that agreement, signed in 2005, that set the referendum in motion.
Still, there are many issues to be ironed out, including citizenship rights, oil sharing and the future of the contested and volatile Abyei region, which was supposed to hold its own referendum on whether to join the south or the north, but never did.
In two other regions that are part of the north, consultations are supposed to determine whether or not to join the south.
But on Sunday, independence already seemed palpable.
At a church service in Juba, the southern Sudanese president, Salva Kiir, congratulated war veterans and called for forgiveness toward the north.
“For our deceased brothers and sisters, particularly those who have fallen during the time of the struggle, may God bless them with eternal peace,” The Associated Press quoted Mr. Kiir as saying. “Like Jesus Christ on the cross, forgive those who have forcibly caused their death.”
In Washington, President Obama congratulated the south on holding a peaceful, orderly referendum, calling it an “inspiration.” But he also warned against breaking the carefully planned peace-agreement timetable.
“We urge all parties to continue to urge calm and show restraint as the parties work to complete implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” he said in a statement. “The past week has given the world renewed faith in the prospect of a peaceful, prosperous future for all of the Sudanese people — a future that the American people long to see in Sudan.”
Jeffrey Gettleman contributed reporting from Nairobi, Kenya.
A version of this article appeared in print on January 17, 2011, on page A12 of the New York edition.
Copyright 2011 The New York Times