More votes and more deaths, in southern Sudan, report

Ten civilians were killed along Sudan’s increasingly tense north-south border, Sudanese officials said Tuesday, as voting continued for a third day in a landmark referendum on southern Sudan’s independence. (more…)

Independence referendum begins in Southern Sudan

People in Southern Sudan lined up to vote Sunday in an independence referendum that is likely to create the world’s newest nation, about five years after the end of a brutal civil war.

Nearly four million people in Africa’s largest country are registered to vote, with balloting running until next Saturday. They’re being asked to mark a simple illustrated ballot, showing a single hand and the word “separation,” as well as two hands clasped together with the word “unity.” (more…)

Can Sudan’s oil feed north and south?

Oil has fueled conflict in Sudan, and rapid growth in the northern heartland of Africa’s biggest country, as the 4x4s purring past shining skyscrapers in the capital, Khartoum, suggest.

But now southerners seem certain to choose independence in Sunday’s referendum – and when they go they will take most of Sudan’s oil with them. (more…)

Southern Sudan: Unity or Secession?

Sunday’s referendum in southern Sudan gives voters a choice between staying united with the rest of Sudan or becoming an independent country.

The poll was agreed to in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Sudan’s 21-year north-south civil war. (more…)

Sudan President Bashir to visit south before referendum

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is to visit the capital of Southern Sudan, Juba, five days before a referendum is held on whether it will secede.

Mr Bashir will meet the president of the semi-autonomous south, Salva Kiir. The two men were on opposing sides during the two-decades-long civil war. (more…)

Israel deports 150 southern Sudanese migrants

Israel has flown home 150 illegal Sudanese migrants in a secret operation that was the largest such deportation from the Jewish state, an Israeli official confirmed Tuesday.

The group, which left late Monday, was the biggest to leave since Israel began quietly deporting hundreds of African migrants a few years ago. The deportations are part of an attempt to stanch the influx of Africans slipping across Israel’s porous southern border with Egypt. (more…)

Egypt says south Sudan secession looks inevitable

Egypt’s foreign minister said a break-up of Sudan looked inevitable because northern and southern officials had made no real effort to keep Africa’s biggest country united.
A referendum on independence for south Sudan, promised under a 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended decades of civil war, is due to take place on January 9, but preparations are falling behind schedule. (more…)

ICC Issues Second Arrest Warrant for Sudan’s al-Bashir

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir for the crime of genocide. It is the second ICC warrant for his arrest. In 2009, Mr. Bashir was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

ICC spokesperson Sonja Robla says President Bashir is charged with genocide (more…)

Southern Sudan opposition leader contests poll result

The leader of Southern Sudan’s second largest party has told the BBC there was “massive rigging” in Sudan’s recent landmark elections.

Lam Akol, head of SPLM-Democratic Change, and the leaders of eight other southern parties have decided to challenge the result in the courts. (more…)

HRW: Sudan’s Bashir Still Faces Charges

The Executive Director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the re-election of Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has no legal effect on the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) charges against him.

Georgette Gagnon says HRW has documentary evidence that shows the elections were marred by widespread irregularities and gross human rights violations that undermined the credibility of the vote. (more…)