South Sudan’s ruling party said on Monday it would accept a northerner in a key post on the commission planning a referendum on the region’s independence, because having the vote on time in January was more important.
Referendum commission chairperson Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil had told Reuters the five southerners in the nine-member commission would vote as a bloc to prevent a northerner taking the post of secretary general, who would control the commission’s funds.
He had threatened to resign if the deadlock had continued, a move which would have delayed the vote from January 9.
But on Monday the ruling, former rebel, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said it would not oppose a northerner taking the post if his deputy could be from the south.
Senior SPLM official Yasir Arman said the party was focused on holding the vote on time. “The secretary general is not the issue — having the referendum on time is,” he said. “There’s a deputy secretary general so he can be a southerner.”
The SPLM has said that any delay in the vote could trigger violence among southerners.
The referendum is the climax of a 2005 north-south peace deal ending Africa’s longest civil war, which claimed an estimated two million lives.
But the partners have bickered over implementing much of the deal, which was supposed to enshrine a democratic transformation and the sharing of power and oil wealth.
However, delays have meant the commission was formed more than two years late, leaving it just six months to plan the vote that will likely create the world’s newest nation state.
Once a secretary general is appointed, the commission’s work can begin in earnest, meaning the vote could still happen on time.
Arman added the SPLM had also decided that some of the timings outlined in the referendum law, such as completing voter registration three months before the vote, could be rearranged.
“It’s about rescheduling — we are ready to reschedule things — the time is still enough but you can reschedule different operations,” he said, adding this included registration. — Reuters