We are entering the final stages of preparations for the Southern Sudan referendum. Voter registration has been completed and the exhibitions and objections period is concluding.  Two important steps remain: the courts will hear any remaining challenges and the final list of eligible voters will be published.

The parties involved deserve tremendous credit for their efforts so far. The Southern Sudan Referendum Commission and the Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau have faced financial and logistical hurdles and yet voter registration was largely peaceful, orderly and transparent. Millions of people took the opportunity to register for next month’s vote. Based on our observations so far, we believe that a credible referendum can take place.

Clearly, important challenges remain. Voter awareness is one of them. It is essential that all eligible voters understand their obligation to come back to the referendum centres and vote from 9 to 15 January. Many voters live in remote areas, far from referendum centres, and we call for every effort to be made to make it easier for people to reach the centres.

Financing is another challenge – we urge the government authorities to immediately release all pending funds so that the logistical costs and the salaries of referendum staff and security personnel are paid in time so that voting can take place smoothly.

Transparency in the way the votes are counted and the results are tabulated is also vital. The results should be released as responsibly as possible so that there can be confidence in the process. We have called on the SSRC to clearly communicate to the public how the results of the vote will be tabulated, publicized and finalized.

On Abyei, our grave concerns have not abated. As the negotiations continue, it is vital that everyone involved shows patience and does their utmost to reach a peaceful and permanent settlement acceptable to all.

While we are leaving Sudan today, we will return in less than two weeks’ time, ahead of the start of polling. The eyes of the world will be watching this referendum, and we hope that all the hard work that has gone into preparing for it will culminate in a vote that is smooth, transparent and a credit to all.

(Questions & Answers)

JOURNALIST (Reuters): Can I ask the Panel how concerned you are about the appeals that have come in front of the constitutional court? Do you think they mount a significant risk of delay or disruption to the vote? (Reuters)

PRESIDENT MKAPA: We’re concerned about the court cases naturally and our hope is that they can be concluded, so that we can know one way or another whether the 9th of January will hold. We have heard that there are as many as - it varies from four to six cases, we don’t know.

We do know for a fact that the [Southern Sudan Referendum] Commission has received information about one case where they’ve been asked to respond to the petition and I believe they will do so speedily. Our hope is that the courts will settle these cases as urgently as possible so that work can go on. But you know courts are independent. But I hope they’re not disengaged from the rest of society, social as well as political.

JOURNALIST (Sudan Vision): UNHCR has recently declared that there is violence breaking out about the referendum. What plans have you put in place, to deal with violence? As you know there have been tribal clashes in South Sudan.

PRESIDENT MKAPA: We have seen no reports of significant violence that would affect the course of the referendum process. We have been assured by authorities both in Khartoum and in Juba that the security arrangements for the holding of this referendum are in place. And we believe them.

JOURNALIST (AFP): I just want to know if there is the possibility for you that the referendum will not take place on the 9th of January, and what would be the worst-case scenario?

PRESIDENT MKAPA: We are not in the business of calculating on the worst-case scenario. I can assure you that we proceed on the basis that the 9th will hold, and the referendum will take place. In all our interlocutions with the forces, with parties in the North and in the South, we have had no cause to think that the referendum will not take place and we proceed on the best possible scenario. And if you have heard to the contrary from any of the parties, please tell them to be as open to us as they have been to you.

JOURNALIST (Sudan Radio Service): In your preliminary statement you mentioned that voter registration was transparent. It will be good for us to know what were some of the factors that convinced the Panel to say that the voter registration was transparent and, in light of that, do you think that the referendum on the 9th of January will be more peaceful and more transparent [than the elections]?

PRESIDENT MKAPA: We have based our assessment first from our own observations because we did visit a couple of registration centres; we have field officers of our own as a Panel, who have reported so, there are international observers as well as domestic observers, in both North and South who have attested to the transparency of the process, and we have no reason to doubt them, and they have given statements to that effect.

Whether this referendum vote will be more transparent than the ones in the elections in April, I can only say that in the South we have certainly been told that they believe that the voting this time round will be more transparent that the April voting. But that’s what we’ve been told, we weren’t here. I’m quite confident. Having, as I said, by our own observations, having seen the procedures that have been outlined, the regulations, the system, we are quite certain that it will be very transparent indeed.