The results are in from Southern Sudan's referendum on independence: a whopping 99% of voters voted for secession from Sudan.
With all the astounding news from Tunisia and Egypt, this will likely not get alot of play, but it is a momentous event. Not only is a peaceful solution to a civil war being found, it also is a case where oft artificial borders drawn by the colonial powers are being rearranged.
Associated Press
Over 99 pct in Southern Sudan vote for secession
Associated Press, 01.30.11, 04:14 AM EST
JUBA, Sudan -- The Southern Sudan Referendum Commission says over 99 percent of the people in the south voted for secession in its first official primary results since the vote was held earlier this month.
The head of the commission' southern bureau, Justice Chan Reec Madut, said Sunday in the region's capital, Juba, that the turnout of the 10 states in the south was also 99 percent, more than the 60 percent reported in the north, where also 58 percent of the people voted for secession.
http://www.forbes.com/...
Unlike with the events in Egypt and Tunisia, religion played a large role in the Sudanese conflict that has now led to independence for southern Sudan. Omar Al-Bashir, the dictator in the mainly muslim north, had been suppressing the mainly christian and animist southern Sudanese. Egypt's dictator, Hosni Mubarak, has been supportive of the Sudanese dictatorship in the past. There now are signs that people in northern Sudan also may not be too happy with the dictatorial regime and are starting to take cues from the protests in Egypt, and it will be interesting to see how the events in Egypt will influence neighboring countries like Sudan:
Sudanese police, students clash in the capital
From Isma'il Kamal Kushkush, For CNN
January 30, 2011 -- Updated 1124 GMT (1924 HKT)
Khartoum, Sudan (CNN) -- Sudanese police clashed with students Sunday as protests inspired by rallies in Egypt broke out in the capital.
The students protested at a university in Khartoum, chanting "No to high prices, no to corruption" and "Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan together as one."
http://edition.cnn.com/...
Last but not least, as people celebrate the new-found freedom of the people of southern Sudan, let us pay tribute to the tremendous work that President Jimmy Carter has done to encourage a peaceful solution to the Sudanese conflict.
Waging Peace
During former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's trip to Sudan with the Elders in October 2007, both President Omar al-Bashir and First Vice President Salva Kiir asked The Carter Center to observe the electoral process in Sudan. The Carter Center launched its election observation mission in February 2008 to observe Sudan's national elections, which were held April 11-18, 2010. In August 2010, the Center began an observation mission to assess the January 2011 referendum, which will determine whether Sudan remains unified or if Southern Sudan becomes a separate nation.
In the past, the Center's Conflict Resolution Program has helped find ways to end Sudan's civil war, working with President Carter to directly negotiate between the parties and working to help focus local, regional, and international opinion on peace, not war. Among the program's achievements was the negotiation of the 1995 "Guinea worm cease-fire," which gave international health workers -- including the Center's Guinea Worm Eradication Program -- an unprecedented period of almost six months of relative peace, allowing health workers to enter areas of Sudan previously inaccessible due to fighting. President Carter also brokered the 1999 Nairobi Agreement between the governments of Sudan and Uganda, in which the governments pledged to stop supporting rebels acting against each other's governments.
http://www.cartercenter.org/...
President Carter, you're still my hero. I stand with you in celebrating this birth of a new nation. Let us hope that the events in Egypt lead to similarly positive results for the Egyptian people.