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Critical Vote for Independence in Southern Sudan

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from Christianity Today…

On Sunday, the fate of 8.2 million southern Sudanese will be put to vote: whether or not to pursue independence. The referendum comes six years after the end of a civil war that cost two million lives. But the prospect of renewed violence is real, causing Christian leaders and others to redouble their efforts at reconciliation…

…During the war, John Dut, then 10 years old, escaped death after his village was attacked. He lived in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp for 10 years and was one of the 3,800 so-called Lost Boys of Sudan to resettle in the U.S. before September 11, 2001, after which the resettlement program was suspended until 2006.

In November, Sudan’s government hired Dut to conduct voter registration in Omaha, where a large number of Lost Boys now live. Dut, who has returned to southern Sudan six times since 2002, told CT he is happy to work for the government. But his hope centers on the church.

“The church has peace in its hands,” Dut said. “The peace we have now came because of the American churches. For me, the churches here in America have a value: when they speak out, the world will listen. Whatever life the Sudanese have now, it comes through the church.”

Read the article at Christianity Today

Comments

Critical Vote for Independence in Southern Sudan — 3 Comments

  1. Thank for the very interesting update on Sudan. Since this is the day after the elections, have you heard any results? How long does it take to tabulate them? Any violence? Certainly hope not.
    Pam

    • This vote lasts a week, from Jan 9th to the 15th. Then it will take a long time to gather all the voting boxes and count them. It will probably not be until Feb 7th or 14th before results are announced. Sixty percent of those registered need to vote and of those 50% need to approve. Some of the voting is being done here in America by Sudanese who live here now, but are still citizens there. One fellow we know in San Diego said he knew friends of his who drove over to Phoenix to register to vote. I don’t know why Phoenix, but that is what he said. And I don’t know if they have to drive over there to vote. Anyway, it’s interesting.

  2. Update: (CNN) — An overwhelming majority of Southern Sudanese voted to split from the north, new preliminary results show, bringing the largest nation in Africa closer to breaking into two.

    The results, published Friday on the website of the commission that ran the referendum, show 98.6% voted for a split. The preliminary results are based on 83% of votes counted in the south and all votes from eligible southerners elsewhere, including overseas.

    Southern Sudanese voters applauded the figures, the latest in a series of indications that secession would win by a wide margin.

    Last week, election officials announced that the turnout had passed the threshold needed for the referendum to be valid.
    http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/22/sudan.referendum.results/

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