One-Sudan policy strained by looming election, referendum

“If the NCP wants a united Sudan, it should not put one roadblock after the other. They don’t want the referendum to take place, and if it does, its results could be rigged,” he said.

Still, history has proved that self determination is rarely peaceful.

The disputed census results and the yet-to-be-demarcated border between north and south could fuel more differences, thus endangering the elections.

Already, the south is up in arms over the decision by the electoral body to exclude Sudanese in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo from registering as voters, while allowing those in the Middle East, Europe and the US to do so.

These countries include; Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, United Kingdom, Western Europe and the United States.

The General Election is scheduled for April next year, and could be the first democratic poll since 1986.

The NEC says it has established 15,000 registration centres in the country, while Khartoum has only 1,125 centres in 50 electoral constituencies.

The one-month voters registration process begun last week.

There are no guarantees that the 20 million eligible voters will be registered, given the short time and logistic nightmare in the south.

The region is largely inaccessible by road and is controlled by militias.