 |
| South Sudan Referendum Commission Eastern Equatoria State High Committee Office in Torit. |
Yesterday I happened to be walking by the local referendum committee office, and one of the staff there told me that they expected to confirm by the end of the day that Eastern Equatoria State (where Torit is located) had exceeded an 80% turnout of those registered, and there are still two days of voting to go! That figure is also expected to be reached or surpassed in many regions of the South. Some polling stations are reporting near 100% turnout, with just a small number short of a perfect score. A friend in the US wrote yesterday to say that she saw on the news that despite a huge snowstorm in Omaha, a very large number of Sudanese residing there turned out to vote.
Sadly, it was also reported that in the highly charged area of Abyei, more than 40 people had been killed in ethnic and referendum related violence, including several who died in an attack on a bus bringing southerners home from the north. The tragedy of these unnecessary deaths, however, have not marred the overwhelmingly peaceful and positive experience of the referendum.
 |
| A woman I met near the referendum committee office who wanted her photo taken. |
Please keep praying that things continue to progress constructively, especially in the wake of the vote. The response of Khartoum and the rest of the international community to the results, once they are announced, will be crucial as to how things unfold.
1 comment:
I have been hearing of the referendum in the news & hope it can go relatively well without further violence. It is sad to hear of the 40 people whose lives have been lost. From what I can understand the ethnic differences are so diverse that separation seems like the only solution. Perhaps if wiser heads had been in control of the government a federated solution could have been worked out in the past. But long time abuse has apparently built up much rancor.
Post a Comment