Obama presses for fair Sudan vote

Sudan reaches historic crossroads

US President Barack Obama is to attend a special UN meeting to exert pressure on Sudanese officials to ensure January referendum is free and fair.

Southern Sudanese are to vote on whether they want the semi-autonomous region to become independent.

But preparations for the elections are behind schedule, with authorities not even having decided who is to vote.

Southerners insist that the referendum be held on time, and not postponed.

The referendum was part of a 2005 peace deal to end two decades of conflict between the north and oil-rich south, but observers fear delays or the lack of a credible vote could spark fresh conflict.

The BBC’s James Copnall in Khartoum says that it will take a huge act of political will, not to mention some logistic ingenuity, to hold the referendum on time – but so far, both have been lacking.

This is a UN meeting, but there is no doubt Mr Obama’s presence makes the US the driving force, our correspondent says.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has repeatedly said the vote will be free and fair, but critics are not convinced, and some accuse him of deliberately dragging his heels.

Mr Bashir, who is wanted by the UN for war crimes, is being represented by his vice-president Ali Osman Taha, while Southern Sudan will be represented by its leader, Salva Kiir.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the 9 January vote a “ticking time bomb”, saying that an outcome in favour of succession was “inevitable”.

She expressed concern that the north was unlikely to welcome the prospect of losing its share of oil revenues and that the south should make “some accommodations” for it, to prevent a return to conflict.

Southern Sudan, where most people are Christian or follow traditional religions, is already semi-autonomous and is run by the SPLA former rebels, who fought the Muslim-dominated, Arabic-speaking north until the 2005 deal.

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