President Barack Obama and former South African president Thabo Mbeki on Friday discussed upcoming self-determination referenda in Sudan, urging that they should not be delayed, the White House said.
Obama, who for weeks has been calling for peaceful and timely votes in Sudan, telephoned Mbeki, who chairs the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on Sudan, the White House said in a statement.
The two leaders “discussed the importance of moving ahead aggressively to support the negotiations [to organise the votes] and resisting any entreaties to delay” the referenda, it said.
“They agreed to continue closely coordinating AU and US efforts to ensure on time referenda,” the statement said.
“With only 72 days to go until the referenda … both share a sense of urgency and a commitment to mobilising the international community to support a timely, credible process on January 9,” it added.
Africa’s biggest nation is scheduled to stage two ballots on January 9: one on the independence of southern Sudan and the other on whether the oil-rich region of Abyei should link up with the north or south.
The two votes are the centerpiece of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between Khartoum and Juba that ended the continent’s longest-running civil war and gave former southern rebels a share in government.
But many Western nations fear the possibility of renewed conflict as the referendum commission struggles to organize the ballots just 10 weeks before they are supposed to be staged. – AFP