Sudan: ringing the alarm bells

Sudanese church leaders have warned of the risk of renewed war if the people in the south of Sudan are unable to vote in a promised referendum on independence. The warnings comes amid serious delays in preparations for the vote which is scheduled for January the 9^th, as part of the 2005 peace agreement ending Sudan’s civil war between the north and the south. An ecumenical delegation from Sudan, including several Catholic prelates and representatives from Caritas Internationalis, raised the alarm about the delays and the growing tensions in the lead-up to the referendum, in a series of recent meetings with the UN. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and with political leaders from the U.S. and Britain.
One of the key members of that ecumenical delegation who met the U.N. leader in New York was Joseph Donnellly, the Permanent Delegate to the United Nations of Caritas Internationalis. Asked about the risk of renewed conflict, he told Susy Hodges "it's a really real risk because the people have been waiting for over five years for this .. referendum so there's great suspicion as to what would be the reasons at this late date for delaying it after so much time for the preparations.... so the fear is that there's .... a political strategy to delay it for reasons..."