Washington, DC — As the impoverished people of oil-rich southern Sudan prepare to vote on their future in a 9 January referendum, fears are rising that the expected vote for independence will not be accepted by the national government in Khartoum. To ward off a resumption of war, Sudanese church leaders traveled to Britain and the United States in October, where they had high-level consultations with political, religious and United Nations officials, including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Since returning to Sudan, the church leaders have continued to press for peace, despite challenges. In late November, police raided the Khartoum offices of the Sudan Council of Churches, which groups Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches. General Secretary Ramadan Chan Liol, who had been calling for closer monitoring of voter registration of southern Sudanese in neighboring countries, said one policeman stated that officers were searching for weapons.
Representatives of the church leaders who have been calling for international vigilance in the run-up to the referendum – and for international pressure to see that it takes place as scheduled and is fair and transparent in its conduct – talked to AllAfrica about their concerns. Here are excerpts from those conversations:
The Rev. Ramadan Chan Liol, general secretary, Sudan Council of Churches
My role as general secretary [based in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, in the north] is to work with the churches to build peace, reconcile the people on the ground, and help people to meaningfully participate in the referendum process. We are involved in civic education, peace building, and engaging the governments of north and south Sudan to work hard to make sure the referendum is carried out and is peaceful, free, transparent and fair.
Time is running out, and the government of the north is dragging its feet to implement the referendum. Southern Sudanese are ready to express themselves through the referendum. We are asking the international community to help [ensure] a free and fair referendum.
The situation of southern Sudanese living in the north is not good. They are desperate to go to southern Sudan. They were in the north because of the war in the south, and now they want to go back because of insecurity fears … and, also, because they just want to go back home. But they lack resources; they need help. And those who are reluctant to go south need to be protected where they are, should anything happen in the north.
The Sudan Council of Churches is a member of the Inter-Faith Council, and through it we have tried to work with Muslims to live in harmony. We understand that it is difficult to differentiate between Islam and the government, while it is easy to differentiate between Christianity and the government. This is because the government [in Khartoum] is an Islamic government. That is not the case in the south. In the south, we – the Christians and Muslims – cooperate to talk to the government and ask the government to do things they are not doing right. But in the north, it's difficult.
Having said that, as churches, we have no problem with Muslims. We have a religious forum where we can discuss things. Though we may agree to disagree, we have that forum. We are not fighting on the basis of religion. It is the impositions of Islam on Christians and everybody in Sudan that we don't accept.
Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and bishop of Juba
On the dangers of postponing the referendum
The international community should make sure the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is done fully. Completing it properly would diffuse a situation that could bring us back to war. Secondly, we want the international community to look ahead to after the referendum, whether the southern Sudanese vote for separation or not. Overall security, food security, and the security of settlements - all these need to be looked at before the referendum. Sudan is a big country; it will be very difficult to plan when things are already in a bad situation. We want the international community to be alert for any situation that could happen.
The people of southern Sudan will not accept a postponement of the referendum, because they have already been deceived so many times in history. They were deceived in 1947, 1956 and 1972; and now there might be another deceit. If so, they will not accept it. It would cause them to question whether the world is with them, and whether their rights and dignity are respected. We're trying to inform the world that these people have suffered and compromised enough. They will not accept a compromise on this issue again.
If the referendum is not done in time, the people of southern Sudan will say: "We're separating". When they say that, the north will not accept it, and automatically there will be a war. That is why we, as the church, want the international community to see that danger and not let it happen.
The reception of the church delegation
This time, the British were taking things seriously. I was interviewed by the BBC many times, and I met with the minister for African affairs and the security adviser to the prime minister. We met with a number of ministers, and all of them were promising that they would not allow the CPA to be breached. That was encouraging to hear.
All this was done with the archbishop of Canterbury. I met members of parliament, the civil society – and I presented a message that was new to them. They had been dealing with the technicalities, but they hadn't seen what was on the ground. I was also given a chance to speak to the Conservative Party, because they were having a conference. I was happy that awareness about danger coming to south Sudan was well taken.
The CPA requirement that 60 percent of registered voters must participate for the referendum to be valid
That is a very big concern – because one way to nullify and deny the southern Sudanese the right to self-determination is to rig the referendum. There are indications already that the referendum will be rigged technically – by registering people who will not vote and denying registration to those who will vote. The areas where this rigging can take place are the areas outside southern Sudan – northern Sudan in particular, among the IDPs (internally displaced people), and in other countries, where embassies will be carrying out the referendum. So we call on the international community to help us monitor the registration and the voting outside southern Sudan. [Registration ended 8 December. Voting is scheduled for 9 January 2011.]
Southern Sudanese living in the north
There are two distinct groups of southern Sudanese in the north. Firstly, there are the IDPs, those who ran away from the south during the war and who are living in camps, waiting for support to return. Then, there are those who came before and during the war, and got jobs and settled in different parts of northern Sudan. These are the ones who are reluctant to go back immediately.
If violence happens, of course they will be victimized, because they are also southerners. That is why we call on the international community to put in place some measures to protect them, should violence erupt in northern Sudan.
The IDPs, they are desperate – they want to return. It would be good if they can be assisted to return to southern Sudan.
When the census was carried out, we were made to understand that the number of southern Sudanese living in the north was 500,000. But immediately after the [April national] elections we were told that the right figure is between 2.5 million to five million people living in the north. That to us is an exaggerated number and we feel that it has been exaggerated to affect the 60 percent turnout requirement for the referendum.
Why southern Sudanese will vote for independence, when they previously supported unity
Southern Sudanese have, for a long time, been for unification of the country. That is why the five years were given to their brothers in the north to make unity attractive to the people of southern Sudan. We were expecting the north to come in, to build roads, bridges, education infrastructure, to help make a governing mechanism workable.
Everybody was expecting our brothers in the north to do that. But they failed completely. They didn't do anything.
Southern Sudan is the same as it was during the war – roads, schools and hospitals haven't been built. So the people of southern Sudan are thinking, 'Okay, if this is how we're going to be under unity, what type of unity is that? It's better for us to separate, because our brothers in the north are not interested in the unity of the country.'
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That's how the idea of shifting to separation came. We remain as we were 50 years ago – no development and no system of government. The south is ruled by the north as if it is a place where you go and get what you want and go away. Because of that, southern Sudanese have changed within the period of five years [since the CPA was signed] – because they have not been helped to achieve what they want to do.
The performance of the government of southern Sudan since the CPA
There are a lot of changes happening. Many places in southern Sudan were like ghost towns, but now you can see many people have settled in Juba (the capital) and all the 10 states of southern Sudan. The system of education is still very weak, but it has to be built on.
We have seen the government of southern Sudan trying its best to make sure they serve the people. For the first time in history, we now have a tarmac road in Juba. They are now making a tarmac road to Uganda, to Kenya, and from Upper Nile to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. So you can see they have started. And they have already connected the 10 states by roads.
But you have to know that while they are doing that, there is corruption. Yes! It is there.
We as the church met with them [the southern Sudanese government, in October] and pointed out their mistakes, telling them that they have to correct them if they want to save the people of southern Sudan.
After our meeting with them, there was a general who defected from the government – and because we had told them that it isn't the time for the leadership to be having differences, it's time to unite – they've asked him to come back, and they won't hold him accountable for what he's done. To us, that's a good way that the government of southern Sudan is listening to the advice of the church.
We've never had a government in Sudan who listened to the church, so that's a good beginning. Yes, they [the southern Sudan government] have weaknesses, but the fact that they have begun to listen is very good.
