by staff writer
Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir has endorsed the referendum results that have given Southern Sudan autonomy. President Bashir issued a Republican Decree accepting the final result of the referendum which supports the separation of the South, after the official promulgation of the results in Khartoum.
“We declare our acceptance of the southern Sudan people’s choice and we pledge to work to resolve the outstanding issues and build constructive relations between north and south Sudan,” he said in the decree read by the Minister of Presidential Affairs Bakri Hassan Salih.
In a speech delivered in accepting the final results President Bashir said, “We promised to give the people of the south the right to self-determination…now that they have chosen independence, we will keep our promise.”
According to the final results released by the chairperson of the South Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) Professor Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil on February 7, 2011, 99% of South Sudanese voted to secede from the north, thus paving the way for an independent state in the region.
Meanwhile the President of the Government of South Sudan, Salva Kiir, welcomed the North’s recognition of the new state, saying it would pave the way for other countries to follow suit.
Professor Khalil declared no legal challenges had been lodged against the result and that the referendum was conducted in “a fair and transparent” manner.
The deputy head of the SSRC and Chairman of Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau Justice Chan Reec Madut said in a press conference that the official proclamation of the South Sudan Independence will take place in July with the end of the interim period as is agreed in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
Final results of referendum were swiftly recognized internationally. U.S President Barack Obama said he was pleased “to announce the intention of the United States to formally recognize Southern Sudan as a sovereign independent state in July 2011.”
The British Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed the announcement of the referendum results and the positive reaction of the government in Khartoum and pledged that United Kingdom will continue to support the settlement of the remaining issues.
The European Union’s (EU) representative in Sudan, Carlo de Filippi, said that “the EU looks forward to further developing a close and long term partnership with Southern Sudan which is set to become a new state in July 2011.”
The United Nation’s Secretary-General’s Panel on the Referendum in Sudan, which was established at the behest of the CPA’s partners to monitor the referendum, approved and welcomed its results. “The outcome reflects the free will of the people of Southern Sudan and that the process as a whole was free, fair and credible.”
A statement released by the Spokesperson for the U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon welcomed the announcement and hailed the peaceful and credible conduct of the referendum.
Meanwhile Col Bangasi Joseph Bakosoro, the Governor of Western Equatoria State said he started savouring the fruits of an independent country soon after he cast his vote in the referendum. “Our country became independent on January 9, 2011. I felt I was in a new era and new beginning right after casting my vote at Yambio town centre on Sunday 9th Jan 2011,” he said.
The governor said he was instrumental in urging the people of Western Equatoria to turn out in large numbers and vote. Most people from Western Equatoria started arriving at polling stations at dawn and had to wait until 8 am when the stations were opened, he said. The commissioner of Nzara County H.E Elia Richard Box has lauded local residents for turning up in large numbers to vote for separation.
He said 95 Per cent of women in the county turned up to cast their votes adding that women and particulary the elderly were given priority during the voting as they could not stand in the queues for long.
