In Sudan, nearly four million people are set to vote in a referendum beginning this
weekend that will almost certainly endorse secession for the south. The referendum
was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war between
north and south Sudan and analysts have warned that disagreements over the vote could
re-ignite the conflict. Sudan’s Catholic Bishops have urged practical and prayer
support for a peaceful vote and have appealed to both sides to accept the outcome.
But what are the feelings of the people in the south in the run-up to this crucial
referendum on their future? Susy Hodges spoke to Bishop Caesar Mazzolari, the Catholic
bishop of Rumbek in southern Sudan.
He says despite the reassurances of Sudan’s
president, Omar al-Bashmir, "the people (of the south) are skeptical about his attitude
... because his languages changes from day to day." Asked about the fears of renewed
conflict, the Bishop says he believes that "the scenario of war is not likely ...
but it could be a possibility if things really go wrong."
Those fears about
war are echoed by Joseph Donnelly of Caritas Internationalis who has been closely
following the run-up to this referendum and who says they stem from the long delays
and "the huge mistrust" that exists between the two sides. Connelly says the people
of the south "have felt detrayed and oppressed for so long" and because of this there
is not a "general public willingness" to make compromises over one of the most contested
issues between the north and the south, the sharing of oil revenues.