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| Africa Horn |
| Sudan gets long-delayed referendum voter books |
| 2010-10-25 |
| [Al Arabiya] Printers delivered hundreds of thousands of registration books for Sudan's southern independence referendum on Sunday, clearing a major hurdle in delayed preparations for the vote, organizers said. Voting is due to start on Jan. 9 2011 in the referendum, promised in the 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war, on whether southerners want to stay in Sudan or secede. Preparations are lagging badly and there are fears that delays, arguments over the sharing out of revenues from the oil produced in the south, and growing north-south tensions over the vote may re-ignite conflict. South African printers flew 500,000 voter registration books to Khartoum on Sunday, enough for southern voters living in Sudan's 15 northern states, said the front man of the referendum's organizing commission, Jamal Mohammed Ibrahim. Millions more will soon arrive in the southern capital Juba, he added. "This is a giant step forward ... When the materials are around everyone feels confident that these things are going ahead," commission deputy chairman Chan Reek Madut told Rooters from Juba. The commission has already started training referendum registration staff, and organizers still hope to start voting on Jan. 9, he added. "That is our hope and it is our aim," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |