{"id":490013,"date":"2010-03-30T13:57:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-30T17:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-7940279364488418798"},"modified":"2010-03-30T13:57:54","modified_gmt":"2010-03-30T17:57:54","slug":"sudan-president-warns-southern-politicians-that-referendum-may-beaffected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/490013","title":{"rendered":"Sudan President Warns Southern Politicians That Referendum May Be\nAffected"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has warned politicians in the south of the country that the scheduled referendum on the status of the region could be cancelled.<\/a>
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

Sudan’s south given poll warning <\/p>\n

Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has warned that any delay to April elections could affect next January’s referendum on secession for the south. <\/p>\n

His comments come amid rumours that the former southern rebels, the SPLM, will call for a delay of the elections – the first national vote in 24 years. <\/p>\n

Other northern opposition parties have already called for a delay, saying the polls will not be free and fair. <\/p>\n

The referendum was part of a 2005 deal ending a 21-year north-south civil war. <\/p>\n

The conflict between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south claimed the lives of some 1.5 million people. <\/p>\n

Correspondents say the idea of secession is popular in the south – and while Mr Bashir’s party would prefer the country to remain united, the president has said he would honour the outcome of the referendum. <\/p>\n

Ballot paper concerns <\/p>\n

On Monday, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s deputy secretary general in the south said the party did not want a delay if a free vote could be guaranteed by the election commission. <\/p>\n

But Anne Ito said there were concerns that ballot papers for April’s parliamentary and presidential elections were being printed on government printing presses. <\/p>\n

The BBC’s James Copnall in Khartoum says the northern opposition parties and the SPLM are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss a common position. <\/p>\n

A meeting between Mr Bashir and SPLM leader Salva Kiir – who is also president of the south – to discuss the crisis was called off on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Last week, Mr Bashir threatened to expel foreign election monitors after they suggested the elections should be delayed. <\/p>\n

Our correspondent says President Bashir needs an electoral victory to give him credibility. <\/p>\n

Violence between rival ethnic group continues to claim hundreds of lives each year in the south, making it difficult to ensure security during the election. <\/p>\n

In Darfur, hundreds of thousands of people still live in refugee camps after a separate conflict. <\/p>\n

Story from BBC NEWS:
http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/go\/pr\/fr\/-\/2\/hi\/africa\/8595443.stm
Published: 2010\/03\/30 15:29:41 GMT
<\/p>\n

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Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has warned politicians in the south of the country that the scheduled referendum on the status of the region could be cancelled.Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos Sudan’s south given poll warning Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has warned that any delay to April elections could affect next January’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-490013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}